Death Wish
by GBlackwell
Summary: Discontinued. See Author's Note.
1. Chapter 1

**There are a lot of fics out there in the Code Geass fandom about Lelouch surviving, living a happy life in solitude with C.C. and eventually reuniting with his buddies who recognize his sacrifice in the end.**

**This is about Lelouch survivng, but it's a bit harder on him than the above scenario. I have an OC, but she does not get into a romantic relationship with Lelouch at any point. I have a feeling that OC central fics annoy the hell out of readers, especially if the said OC is Mary Sue. I have tried hard not to make her Mary Sue, but just another character that Lelouch will use to obtain a certain end.**

**I hope you enjoy this fic.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1:<strong>

Blood on a white-garmented emperor, a masked hero holding up the victorious sword, the stunned silence of the crowd…this was it, the play he'd scripted, the requiem he'd composed. The agony was part of the role he'd assigned himself.

"This is a punishment for you as well," he told the masked hero, "You will no longer live as Suzaku Kururugi. You will forced to wear a mask, always fighting for justice and truth…"

The masked figure replied to the bloodied Emperor, "This Geass, I solemnly accept!" and ripped the sword out of his body.

And he was falling, flipping over. He was feeling lightheaded; it must be the loss of blood. And he had stopped falling and was laying down. He felt a gentle hand touch him

"Big Brother?"

_Nunnally…_

With one touch, the girl had realized everything. The bloodied Emperor heard her, and he tried to turn his head up, tried to say something, but only found himself blink once. And once again he was holding Nunnally, his sister. Once again, he was standing before his father as a banished young prince. Once again, he was playing with Suzaku; once again, carrying Nunnally through the destroyed Japan.

And he was again at Ashford, with Milly, Rivalz and Shirley. And then he was Zero, the hero of Japan. And he was with C.C. again, arguing with her, calling her a witch, wanting to strangle her for ordering so much pizza, and telling her to die with a smile on her face. And everyone that had died because of him was dying again, right before his eyes: Shirley, Euphie, Rolo. He was again killing his father and mother, again becoming the demon Emperor who would shoulder all the world's hate.

He tried to respond to Nunnally.

"I have…destroyed…the world…and created…anew…" he said, and felt his eyelids slowly close.

"Lelouch the demon is dead! Release the prisoners!"

The End.

Or at least, that should have been the end.

* * *

><p>"I have gathered the select few of you here to make an announcement. The Demon Emperor, Lelouch vi Britannia, is not dead."<p>

The meeting, which held Zero and all of the people who knew about Geass save Nunnally, gasped, and made varying gestures of shock. All except for Zero, whose mask could show no emotion, but who with a single gesture of his hand quieted the erupting questions of everyone in the room.

"How is this possible?" Zero asked, turning to the previous speaker, Cornelia.

"I was about to ask you that."

Zero's mask could show no indignation, no rage at this comment. He only could refute, calmly, the near accusation, "My sword went straight through his heart. I do not understand how that could not kill him."

"I do not either, to be honest. We did an autopsy on him that confirmed him dead, even. But still, just an hour ago, as we were burning the corpse, he suddenly awoke and began screaming," Cornelia said.

A few people shuddered at this, and Kallen Kozuki covered her mouth in horror.

"It is possible," Zero said, "That vi Britannia was conducting experiments with the power known as Geass, which caused him to become something of an immortal."

Everyone gagged on this. "Immortal?" asked Cornelia, dismayed.

"Man, I knew Geass was supposed to be powerful, but giving eternal life?" Tamaki asked.

"I am not sure myself," said Zero, "At any rate, what have you done with the former Emperor?"

"Right now he is in chains in a prison cell," Cornelia said.

"I would like to interrogate him in private, if that is permitted by all present."

Everyone was silent. Then, Ohgi spoke up, "First, tell us who you are, Zero."

Zero turned his mask silently to face him, "I am Zero."

"I mean besides that. We all know that Lelouch was the previous Zero."

Zero was silent for a long time. "The true Zero," he said, "Should be judged not by his identity but by his actions."

Everyone in the room pondered what he had said; some recognized the words as Lelouch's own.

"I submit myself to the judgment of the U.F.N. and will obey the majority vote of the people in this room, for I do not seek to make myself a tyrant as Lelouch did. However, this is what I suggest to deal with the current situation. First, Lelouch's survival must be kept secret from the public; no knowledge of it must leave this room. Second, he must be questioned as to how he survived. Third, the people here must hold a trial for the Emperor and decide what the punishment for his crimes will be, considering that execution may not be an option."

No one had anything to say about this.

"Again," Zero continued, "I would also like to interrogate him in private, if that is permitted by those present."

"I would like to speak to him, as well," Kallen said.

"It might be risky to let anyone talk to him alone, especially someone who knew him personally. We all know the kind of manipulation his is capable of, and not just with Geass," said Kaguya Sumeragi with remarkable sense for someone her age.

"I say we bring him in here right now," suggested Cornelia.

* * *

><p>The dark-haired young man sat silently in the chair where he was chained. The people around him, he realized, were mainly people that he had been about to execute the day before, and now he felt a slight smirk come over his face as he realized the tables had turned against him. Then, he wiped the smirk off his face and put on a stoic, emotionless mask.<p>

They had blindfolded him, to prevent him from using Geass, and the questions were coming out angrily and without cease:

"How did you survive, Lelouch?"

"What were you trying to accomplish by all of this?"

"Where is C.C?"

"Do you have some plan for her to rescue you?"

"Did you ever think of us as anything besides pawns?"

"How could manipulate people the way you did and feel no remorse?"

"How could you manipulate and murder Euphie like that?"

The youth kept silent and stoic under all of these questions.

"People!" Zero shouted, "Aren't these questions becoming far too personal? We must take and impersonal outlook to the situation. It would be far better if we chose a single person to interrogate him."

The young Emperor, or former Emperor, said finally, "I would like to speak with this fake Zero." His voice was undoubtedly dripping with venom. "Is he in the room right now? I can't see…was that his voice that I just heard?"

"I am Zero," said the same Zero who had just spoken.

The youth laughed maniacally, "I believe I should have a word with this…copycat and assassin…in private."

"No way are we letting you get what you want, Lelouch," an angry Cornelia said, "Zero, he only intends to try and break your resolve in private. If anyone should interrogate him, it should be me. I know how to deal with him. You may not be able to die, Lelouch, but we can make you come pretty close if you do not answer our questions."

"I agree," said Ohgi, "Let us have a vote as to who will interrogate him."

Zero came in second. The one eventually selected was Cornelia. The reason that Cornelia won out was probably that Lelouch himself asked to speak to Zero.

"Okay then, baby brother, it seems like we're going to be having some quality time."

The Emperor only smirked, "I will answer the only real question that you have right now. I am indeed immortal. I gained this immortality when I killed my father; it is, in fact, a special form of Geass. As for everything else…I scorn any endeavor of yours to find out my true motives. You all know what I have done, and what I am. Ask nothing more from me, you need no evidence. From here forth, I will say nothing to your accusations."

* * *

><p>They interrogated him, but as he promised he never said a word. They gave up trying to find out anything. What more information was there to find? They wanted to know where C.C. was, but honestly the green-haired witch didn't seem to be causing any trouble after the young Emperor's 'death.'<p>

They gave him a trial, as Zero had suggested. They at first to sentence him to death, trying to find some way that he could be killed, but none worked, so they settled for life imprisonment.

* * *

><p>He didn't know how long he was in there. There was absolutely no way to keep track of time, and they had long since stopped giving him food and water, knowing that he could survive without them. So he just sat shackled to the chair for hours upon hours, perhaps lost in memories, perhaps meditating ways to escape, perhaps regretting his crimes. Whatever he thought about, he made sure that he gave no hint as to what it might be. He just sat there, which was the only thing he could do.<p>

The main recurring thought in all of his reveries was that should be dead. Everything would be so much simpler, and less humiliating and painful, if he were dead. Hadn't he been willing to die? Hadn't he planned it? Hadn't he felt a sense of relief flow over him as he felt his eyes close for what he thought was the last time? He wondered how long he would have to wait. It couldn't be forever. The world would forget about the Demon Emperor locked up in some hole eventually, and then they would just...leave him to rot here for all eternity? No, eventually the chains would rust, even if it took a hundred years, and he might be able to struggle out and make his escape into a world that had forgotten him. And then, he could seek out his wish:

Death.

But his wish came sooner than he thought. He didn't even recognize it the first day. He didn't even recognize it for a long time afterwards. It came, as it was, in the form of the creaky door to his cell opening and some timid footsteps pattering their way in.

"Who are you?" the boy in the chair, the one who had been an Emperor once, asked wearily to the sounds. He had said that he would not respond to their accusations again, but now he was the one asking, because he was simply curious as to why they would send someone in after such a long solitude.

"I-I…I'm sorry, I'm o-only in here to clean," said a young girl's voice. She was probably about seventeen.

He chuckled a little. "They send a little girl to come and clean up prisoners' cells?"

"Y-yes…"

The man sighed, "This is ridiculous. What are they planning? I know they can hear every word we say in this room. Leave."

"B-but I…you're just being mean. They said that you probably wouldn't say anything…"

"Wench, can you not see who I am?" he asked, and he struggled slightly in his chair, making the chains rattle.

"I can't see anything."

"What's that, wench?"

"I'm mostly blind."

The boy in the chair was quiet. "Oh," he said, "I understand. But that's a bit of overkill, don't you think? Blindfolding me _and _sending in a blind wench? Are you afraid that I will somehow get out of these restraints?"

"Umm, are you talking to me?"

"No. I am talking to whoever is monitoring this situation."

"Oh. How come you couldn't tell I am part blind? Most people can tell right away."

"I am blindfolded. Didn't you just hear what I said?"

"Oh."

The boy sighed, "Well, clean up then. I can't do anything to hurt you, since I'm shackled. And I must admit this place smells awful. I suppose this is a little bit of mercy on their part. Please, clean up."

He heard the gentle, persistent sound of sweeping on the floor, which seemed to be almost in rhythm with the girl's breathing.

"How can you clean up, anyway, if you're blind?" he asked, suddenly.

"Ummm, I'm only half blind, so I can see shadowy figures, and I can still sweep and stuff just like a normal person can. I probably do leave some dust behind, but I'm sure that I get most of it."

"I see."

He could sense the girl's nervousness, even though he couldn't see her. She tried to say something conversational. "You don't sound like a criminal."

"I am a murderer, wench."

She gave a pathetic sound of shock, "But you sound like you are about my age."

"I am much older than I sound."

"How old are you?"

The young man thought for a while. "I've been in here a long time, so I don't know. But I am guessing…twenty nine," he decided.

The girl gave a doubtful "Hmmm" and continued sweeping in silence. About fifteen minutes passed in absolute silence, when she said, "What's your name?"

"Wench, are they really allowing you to talk to me?"

"They didn't say anything about talking to you. They just said not to listen to you."

"Then can I ask you some questions?"

"I don't know…" the girl said.

"Please," his voice was pained, "Who is the current leader of Britannia?"

The girl sounded surprised, "Why, don't you know? Nunnally vi Britannia. It's been twenty years since she ascended to the throne, but everyone knows that…oh…" the girl realized, it seemed, that he had been in there quite a while indeed if he didn't know that.

"And…how…" he sighed again, "How is she?"

"What?"

The young man thrashed in frustration, "How's her health? Is she still in a wheelchair? Is she married?"

"I…don't keep up very much with the news...I don't know about the wheelchair thing. I've never heard anybody talk about that. But I know that she is married and has a daughter, Princess Eulalie vi Britannia."

"Eulalie? Who's the father?"

"I can't remember."

"Then, can you tell me something else?"

"What?"

"What are Zero and the Black Knights up to?"

The girl thought, and then said, "Nothing, I think. Everything is really peaceful. I know they keep the military up and sometimes they have to fight drug trade and mafia whatnot…but no wars or anything like that."

The young man said nothing, and the rhythmic sound of sweeping continued.

It was the girl who broke the silence again, "You really don't know anything about what goes on outside?" she asked.

"No, I do not."

"That's sad."

"Don't give me your pity, wench."

* * *

><p>That was his first encounter with his new janitor. He was actually disappointed when she left, simply because talking and even hearing her sweep was a better way to pass the time than thinking to himself. He wondered if the girl would be back, but decided not to think about it. Although it was a relief to talk to a human being that didn't seem to hate him, he couldn't rely on any hope that there might be more pleasant conversations like that.<p>

And so he was surprised when she came in the very next day, and the first thing she said was, "He's a Japanese noble."

"What, wench?"

"Umm, the husband of the Empress. You wanted to know so badly, and I asked my superiors if I could tell you stuff about the outside world, and they said that I could tell you some things but not others. But they said that I could tell you that. She married this Suza-something Kurugi."

The boy stiffened. He immediately wondered why they would tell him this. Had someone found out about Zero Requiem, and wanted to confirm it with him? He had to play dumb."

"That name reminds me of Suzaku Kururugi. But that would be impossible, because that man died quite a long time ago."

Died, yes, and was reborn as Zero. But if Lelouch the Emperor was not supposed to know that. Lelouch did know, but if _they_ knew that, they might be able to find out about Zero Requiem. And this boy, this shell of Lelouch, refused to let anyone know about Zero Requiem. So he acted like he didn't know Suzaku survived.

"Hmm" said the cleaning girl, "I don't know about that. I couldn't really remember the name."

"That's right, you're Britannian, aren't you?"

"Y-yes…"

"So you have trouble with Japanese names."

The girl asked him, "Are you…Japanese, then?"

"No."

"Oh," she said. And again he heard the sound of sweeping, and the girl's irregular breath, "But then you're Britannian?"

He didn't want to admit it, even now. "I am a demon," he said, avoiding the question.

"Are you?" the girl asked. He could hear the smile in her voice. She was genuinely curious and almost pleased that someone had said something so unusual.

"I can hear your laughter, wench. It is ill thought out. You should fear me," he said, using his 'Demon Emperor' voice. He heard the immediate change in her mood. Her sweeping stopped.

"I am afraid," she said, her voice shaking a little, "But you are locked up."

"Damn you," he said, allowing his normal, weary voice to return.

The girl continued sweeping, "Who are you again?"

"Ask your superiors."

"I…they haven't told me. Besides…I think it would be more polite if you told me yourself?"

"I told you, wench, I am a demon. They will tell you the same, perhaps with a slightly different slant."

The girl said, "Is there anything else that you want to know about the outside world?"

"Huh?"

"I will be willing to tell you. Just ask, and I'll find out, and I will ask them to approve it, and I'll tell you."

The boy sighed, "And how will I know it's not false information?"

"What? Why would I lie to you?" she asked, innocently.

He gave a slight "Hmph" and said, "If you cannot figure it out, then I am not going to waste time explaining. Yes, there is something I would like to know. I would like to know how a certain Kallen Kozuki is doing."

"Omigosh! Ms. Kozuki? She's the one that recommended me!"

"…What?"

"For this job. I couldn't get a job before, but she said that I would be good for this, and she also said that I reminded her mother."

"Ah yes, her mother…So how is Ms. Kozuki? The one that recommended you?"

"She seems fine. I mean, she's kind, she a great lady, and she is well-liked by everyone. I wish I could be like her."

"Is she happy?"

"I…why wouldn't she be?"

"I just want to know."

"I guess…maybe I should ask her?"

The boy nodded, "Yes. Do that."

* * *

><p>Once, he began to rely on her for information about how the world was after Zero Requiem.<p>

Everyone seemed happy and satisfied. Ohgi had married Viletta, in one of the first public marriages between a Number and a Britannian. Kallen Kouzuki had married Gino Weinberg, though she had insisted on keeping her Japanese name. Nunnally was a proud mother of three children, and was supposedly married to Suzaku Kururugi (though the young, imprisoned man wondered if they had made this detail up to test his reaction). Li Xingke had died from his illness, unfortunately, but had held out much longer than all the doctors expected. Kaguya Sumeragi had grown up and made a respectable marriage. Everyone seemed to be doing fine.

He once asked the girl, "What is the state of the world, nowadays?"

"The world is very peaceful nowadays. I mean, it has been since I was born. My teacher in the blind school said that it's because there is no more reason for war anymore. He said that when Lelouch vi Britannia stripped all individuals of their status, and made the nobles completely poor to humiliate them, and he humiliated all people equally, both Numbers and Britannians, it caused all people to ban together and forget their differences. That's why he says everything's peaceful now. Discrimination is gone. War is gone. Even a lot of the pettier crimes like refrain-dealing have gone down."

"There are still some problems. There are still some criminal organizations, and I believe there is one crazy terrorist group that is out to kill Zero because they say that he co-operated with the Demon Emperor Lelouch, but they have no power, and can't really do anything. Empress Nunnally puts a lot of money into education programs, orphanages, art projects, and things like that. It was one of those programs, for blind people, that I attended…but I eventually got kicked out because of my bad grades…Yeah…"

"Every year, there is a huge holiday to celebrate the day the world became free, the day that…the Demon Emperor was killed."

But here the girl stopped talking.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sensing some sort of negative reaction from her.

"It's just not my favorite holiday. I prefer Christmas."

* * *

><p>He came to look forward to when she would come with more information. Sometimes, she would say that they wouldn't allow her to tell him what he wanted to know. Sometimes, he felt that she was saying exactly what the people imprisoning him wanted him to hear. But it didn't matter. It was something to pass the time with.<p>

Then, one day, she came in and asked something strange: "Am I the only one that visits you?"

"Yes."

"Then who comes in and feeds you?"

"No one."

"Then how do you survive?"

The young man sighed, "Ask your superiors."

"But aren't you hungry or thirsty?"

"Yes, girl, I am hungry and thirsty. But it is better if I don't eat, at any rate."

She asked, "Why?"

"Because then I won't need to go to the bathroom. I am certain that no one is going to let me out of this chair to relieve myself."

"So, you wouldn't want some water, even?"

"…Please do not talk about it…"

"But you said you were thirsty."

"Wench, shut up." She was quiet, and the boy chained to the chair could hear the sound of sweeping once again. He thought he heard a stifled whimper. "Are you crying?" he asked.

"N-no, I'm not. I'm just…"

"What did you expect from a demon mass murderer?"

"I don't know…you don't sound like a murderer most of the time, and the way you ask about those people makes me think…" she paused.

"Think what?" he asked, irritated.

"That you must have really liked them."

"If you ask your superiors about me, and what I did to all the people I ask about, I am certain they will break that illusion of yours. I am a terrible person."

The girl continued sweeping. Then, suddenly, he realized: "I don't know your name"

"No, you never asked."

The young man, who was actually becoming an old man, wondered if she would blurt out her name without him actually asking, if she was open and stupid enough to do that. She was.

"I'm Ann."

A common Britannian name. Well, that's what she was, a common Britannian. She was neither tough or fiery like Kallen, nor mysterious or eternal like C.C., nor bubbly bright like Shirly, nor noble like Euphemia. But she was his only link to the world.

"Ann, then," he said, "Please do not take offense at what hardened convicts say, especially if they are also mass murderers. Now, there is someone else that I want to ask you about, but I am almost certain that you will not know this person, will not be able to find out about her, and will not be allowed to tell me, even if you do. Yet still, I feel like I have to ask. Her name is C.C."

"C.C. Only initials?"

"Yes. She is a beautiful woman with green hair…never mind, you wouldn't be able to see her. But anyway, I just want to know how she is. This probably has the people watching right now scrambling, hoping that I'll give away something about her location. I don't know her location. I just want to know…how she's doing…Dammit, I don't even know why I bothered asking this question. It'll get me nowhere."

The girl asked, "You always ask about how these people are."

"That's because I want to know how they are, wench."

"You are really a murderer?"

"Yes."

"Who did you kill, that made them lock you up like this, out here, away from the state prisons?"

The young man shouted, "I told you before that all of you already know what I have done, and I refuse to justify myself or to repeat my confession! It is the same now, if you told this girl to come and ask this question."

"Were you talking to the people watching again?"

"Yes."

"They didn't tell me to ask that."

The boy replied, "I still refuse to speak about it."

* * *

><p>The day it became clear that this girl would be the one to grant his death wish, was a day she came in panting, clearly half out-of-her-mind.<p>

"I n-need to get you out of here," she breathed.

"What, girl?"

She explained, still panting, "There are these…men…they've come to kill 'the demon' they said. I don't know how, but they've already managed to take down everybody upstairs. They're screaming, ranting that we've kept something a secret for so long and that we are in league with the ghost of the Demon Emperor- or something like that-do you remember the crazy terrorists I told you about, that want to kill Zero for supposedly working with the Demon Emperor? Yeah, them."

"Then get out."

"What?"

"I don't need to worry about them killing me. Besides, death would be a relief."

"W-what? You can't say that!"

"I did say it. Now get out."

He heard the girl rush toward him, and pull out something rattling. "Mr. Lloyd said that these were the keys to your shackles. He said that you should see this as the perfect opportunity to escape."

The young man sighed, "I do not need to be saved."

"I am s-sorry, but I going to have to touch you." He could hear the embarrassment in her voice, "Please understand, I d-don't mean to be rude, but I am part blind, so I can't see where the chains are." The girl said as she began feeling around his arm for the first shackle. She found it, and soon he heard it click and fall off.

"Did you not hear what I said? You don't need to worry about me dying, and besides I deserve to die for my crimes."

"No, you don't."

"Wench, do not question me! I have killed men, women, and children alike. I slaughtered my own sister. I butchered my father and mother. I had planned the deaths of…"

"No one deserves to be killed, no matter what they have done," said the girl, and she came around to his other side, and began feeling for the shackle on his left arm.

"Woman! You have no right to speak! The peaceful world that you have told me about every day is built on assassination! Would such peace be possible, if not for the murder of a certain individuals dangerous to society?"

She stopped. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"The peaceful world you love so much was built on the assassination of Lelouch vi Britannia."

"It…it wasn't….no, it was a-actually…"

"Face it, wench, some people have to be killed. It creates a better world. Leave, now."

"No! If…our peaceful world was built on the murder of one person, however evil that person may have been, then it is a rotten world!" said the girl, and with that, the shackle on his wrist clicked off.

"You are a fool. You're denying the peaceful world you've told me about. Leave, fool." Instead, he heard a click, and one of his shackles came off. "Damn you, wench!" he yelled, writhing in his chair, and using his most threatening voice. "If you let me go, do you think I will spare you?"

The girl trembled. He heard her shake and whimper, "You would kill someone who let you free?"

He chuckled sinisterly, "Have you ever heard of _Arabian Nights_? Have you ever heard the story of the demon in the bottle, imprisoned for three hundred years, who swore to kill the person who set him free?"

Her voice was barely a squeak, "No, I haven't."

"Perhaps if you could read, wench, you would be a little wiser. Leave while you still have the chance."

He heard her breathe heavily, and knew that he had her. But suddenly, she said, "If you were a really evil person, you wouldn't have told me that. You would be coaxing me to let you go, and then you would kill me afterwards."

"I told you, I…"

"Besides, I have to help you, even if you are going to kill me."

"Idiot! How stupid are you?"

"Otherwise, I am desecrating my father's grave."

The young man who was actually an old man fell silent. He felt her grope blindly around his ankle for a while, and heard another one of his shackled fall off, "What do you mean by that, desecrating your father's grave?"

"I have to save every life…but no matter. I'll tell you later, maybe, but for now" she said, a shackle falling off his ankle, "I'll just get you out of here. You can always turn yourself in to Ms. Kozuki later, if you are so eager to be imprisoned."

"It's not that simple…"

And she felt around for his last chain, and soon the last on fell off.

"You can take off your own blindfold, you know. I am sure you are sick of me touching you."

He put his hands on his face, and removed the black cover over his eyes. He saw the girl who had let him free. She had a face that seemed permanently sad, with unfocused gray eyes. He stood up, and felt his body wobble after sitting in a chair for twenty years.

"Well, as it seems I can't argue with you over this point, we'll go. But I swear, you will regret letting me go like this?"

"How do you plan to make me regret it?" she asked, not quite looking him in the eye.

"I won't have to do anything. You'll regret it of your own accord."

"My father wouldn't rest any other way."

"I have you explain that later, but for now, let's leave."

The young man followed the half-blind girl to the door. They opened the cell door and were surprised to be greeted by what looked like some soldiers.

"It's the Demon Emperor!" shouted one of them.

"Ann, get behind me," the young man commanded.

"But…"

"Fire!" shouted one of the soldiers

"NOW!" He commanded, and he leapt in front of the girl. Immediately, three bullets riddled his body. He fell, blasted to the ground.

"What happened?" asked Ann, desperately. "I can't see. The light is so dim all of a sudden!"

"Ann…Down here," said the young man weakly.

"Kill the girl! None who help the Demon Emperor should be allowed to live!"

The young man managed to stand again, and again received the bullets for the girl. He staggered backwards, trying hang on to the walls, or something around him. He ran right in the girl, who tried to hold him up but only fell with him as he collapsed to the floor

"Blood?" she gasped, "They shot…" the girl raised her hand to her mouth and stifled a shriek as she realized what had happened, and what was going to happen. "I am not going to be able to stop any of this? I...can't...do anything?"

"Let the girl go!" the wounded boy commanded, his voice still strong, "She is nothing to me. Why harm an innocent girl who was hired to clean up?"

"Fire again!"

This time the young man clutched Ann's hand. Time seemed to slow down enough that he could see the bullets.

"_Do you want power?" he asked her, "Do you want to live?" _

_He felt the flashes through her mind, the dark, shadowy figures of her family, the belief that she would have the power to help anyone in need, an oath she swore on her father's grave to value life, to never kill, and to never stand by as someone was being killed. _

_"This power I can give you will condemn you to a lonely road, a life of solitude, but you will be given the power to survive, the power even to change the world. In exchange, you must grant my wish. Do you want this power?"_

"_Yes," the girl said, "Yes I do."_

"_Are you ready for this burden?"_

"_I am."_

"_Then accept this Geass."_

"_I…accept…"_

The young man allowed himself to fall into unconsciousness from his wounds. He was aware of the sudden shield around him and the half-blind girl, shielding them from harm. It seems that her Geass was the ability to shield. But he smirked to himself as he realized that he would get the wish that he had desired so long ago:

To die.

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><p><strong>Note: I am not sure if I want to continue this story, or leave it just as it is. Please Review and tell me if I should continue it. Suggestions would also be nice.<strong>

**Please Review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, here's the second chapter. Hope you all like it, and that it is as good as or better than the first chapter. I know that a lot of fics start to lose momentum after an excellent beginning, and my beginning wasn't so excellent...**

**I would like to thank the three people that have reviewed so far, Ragez, firelordzuko, and Dogmatix314. You gave me motivation to continue, so I hope I don't** **disappoint.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2:<strong>

The young man awoke a little later to realize that the half-blind girl, his selected Grim Reaper, was dragging him by the shirt through the hallways.

"What the…?" he murmured, "Wench! Let…go…of…my…person…this…instant…"

"Huh?" she asked, "Omigod! You're alive!" she was ecstatic, "You're s-still alive!"

"Yes, I am alive. I told you that you needn't worry about me getting killed. Now, what's our current situation?"

"Ummm," The girl chewed her lip, doubtfully, "Th-they're still sh-shooting at us."

The boy indeed heard the bullets reflecting off her shield. "How long do you think you can keep that shield up?"

"Don't-y you know…? I mean, you _are _the one t-that g-gave it to me…"

"Wench, be quiet. I'll explain the details of Geass later. How long do you think you can keep the shield up?"

"Um, I d-d-don't really kn-kn-know…"

"Well, if you could keep this up forever, I would say that we should just stand around until they ran out of bullets. But, considering that you might not be able to keep this up forever, I would say we should…run. As fast as possible. You know the way out of here."

"Yes, o-of course…but…."

The young man felt that he was going to snap in frustration. "But what?" he asked harshly.

"It's too d-different…" Her eyes were flashing around the room, bewildered. The young man narrowed his eyes, wondering what exactly was wrong with the girl. It dawned on him.

"You're not blind anymore… Geass restored your sight," he said, amazed himself that Geass could do that.

"I-is that what t-this is?"

The bullets were pounding on the shield, but the two companions were silent.

"We don't have time for this. You should remember well enough how to get out and run. Now."

"A-all right."

The two companions ran throughout the halls, the terrorists, stood where they were, continuing to fire until the boy and girl were quite a bit ahead of them. Then, they finally charged after the two, while screaming things such as, "Kill Demon Emperor Lelouch!"

The dark hallways were rather long, and they had to make quite a few sharp turns as they were running. The young man was soon panting, nearly out of breath, and falling behind his companion. Briefly, the memory of all his days being outrun by everyone in high school, even girls wearing dresses, flashed through his mind. After being strapped immobile to a chair for twenty years and shot immediately after his escape, his athletic abilities had not improved. He saw Ann looking worriedly behind and slowing down to let him keep up. He scowled at her and redoubled his efforts, though his side was hurting.

They made it to the stairs, and climbed up hurriedly; the shooters were gaining on them. Frantically, the young man tried to think of a way to take the terrorists down. Nothing was coming to him. Think, think, think… The two companions got up the stairs, and he swept his analytic gaze around the room. There were four people lying dead in pools of blood on the floor. Ann seemed to see this as well, and she almost keeled over as though she was going to throw up. The shock of carnage caused her shield to flicker a little bit. The young man, accustomed to such carnage, kept his wits about him and swiped a gun of one of the corpses.

"Don't do that!" shrieked Ann, clutching the hand that held the gun, "We can't shoot them!"

The boy snapped, "We have to-"

"I won't let you! I told you back there that I wouldn't let anyone die, even if they're terrorists!" And with that, she gave him a shove. Never the strongest or sturdiest, he stumbled backwards; fell right out of the shield that Ann had created. This would not have been the worst of all possible situations in itself, after all, the boy was incapable of dying; however, it caused the the girl to break her concentration enough so that the shield disappeared. Both companions were completely helpless.

"Down!" ordered the young man, and Ann obeyed immediately. He rolled his body into a better position for shooting and proceeded to fire at the terrorists as they came up the stairs. At least three of them fell cussing on the ground, unable to walk because they'd been shot in the legs.

Ann screamed, "No! I said not to ki-"

"I'm not, goddammit! I'm shooting their legs!" Of all the people in the world to give Geass to, the boy thought, he had to give it to a pacifist. The boy cursed more inside when his gun clicked, signaling it was out of ammo. Luckily, there were only two more of the terrorists left, at least in the group that had been chasing them, and they fell down the stairs when a few of their injured companions fell on top of them.

The boy grabbed a gun from another one of the corpses. He heard the men downstairs groaning from being shot in the leg and trying still to come up. There was a door in front of the stairs; it could be shut, locked. He thought of running to the door, but checked himself as he realized that he could be shot if he appeared in the doorway, and while he couldn't die, it wouldn't help if he was wounded and thus slowed down. He turned around and found Ann dropped on the ground with her hands over her head. He took her hand, and pulled her up.

"Here, can you do that shield again?"

"Y-yes," she said, and the Geass sigil appeared in her left eye, causing the shield to surround both of them.

"Keep me covered." He ran over and was about to pull the door closed, when one of the uninjured terrorists ran up the stairs, firing a gun. Luckily, the bullets bounced off the shield, causing them to ricochet back at the terrorist. While the flustered man was ducking, the young immortal slammed the door of the stairs and barred it.

"Come on," the young man said to Ann, "What's the way out of the building?"

"Here, t-this way," she said, and she ran with him following after her. He scowled at himself as he realized that he was already seriously close to running out of breath. Luckily, the girl opened a door and obnoxiously bright light streamed through his pupils. He gasped and turned away his eyes. He heard his companion make a similar sound.

"It's so…" the girl breathed, "It's…"

The facility, it seemed, was located in the countryside, far away from where anyone would pry. Although the facility was solid steel on the inside, the outside was designed to look like a little country cottage. The grass was luscious green speckled with purple flowers, rolling in the wind, glistening in the sun. And the wind blew warmly, stroking the old-young man, who felt blood rising to his cheeks after twenty years of imprisonment. But the sun burned his eyes, and he had to look away.

"Not…now…" the boy gasped, "We need to hurry out of here, if those terrorists are any good, then they'll probably have some explosive device to..."

Just as he was speaking, they heard an explosion.

"Is there some sort of vehicle we can use to get out of here?"

"Well, th-there's a c-car that someone always b-brings me in. It should be this w-way," and the girl was about to run around the building when he grabbed her arm.

"Stop! There might be more terrorists guarding the vehicles. We need to go around slowly, and check out the situation."

"Okay."

They did so, and were able to see one terrorist standing out by the cars.

"One? There were only seven actual terrorists sent in here? How bad was the security at this place?" the young man asked.

Ann responded, "W-well, we only had two armed security guards, and two people to monitor you every sh-shift, Ms. Opal and occasionally Mr. Lloyd or Mrs. Kozuki would come by…Oh no! Mr. Lloyd and Ms. Opal are still in there! We need to help them!"

"We need to get out of here," the young man said.

"No, no, we need to go help them," she said, her stammer disappearing and resolve flashing in her eyes.

"What? Are you an idiot? There are six terrorist down there! And besides, it seems as if Lloyd and the person you mention before are being guarded by that one terrorist over there."

"They are? Oh."

"But first, we need to block this door."

"I have a key." Ann pulled out a card key and slid it into what looked like a normal crack in the wall, but as it turned out was actually the keyhole. The doors slammed. She explained, "Mr. Lloyd gave it to me."

"All right, now we need to think of a plan before those other terrorists come bursting through that door. I could easily shoot the man guarding those two."

"I won't let you."

"Then…" the young man's brain whirled, "If I go out there and try to disarm the terrorist while you shield me, then your friends are going to see me working with you. That will turn them against you at some point. No, we need to keep you in their good grace. You have to go out there alone."

"What? B-but…"

"Use your shield. Once he sees that you can deflect bullets, and you hold a gun to his head, then he'll probably surrender."

"I-I can't use a…a gun!"

"You won't actually kill anyone. Here, take it." He held it out to her, and even grasped her hand around it. But then he looked in her eyes and realized that she would never be able to pull a bluff like that off. Stammering and shaking, she would never be taken seriously. The terrorist would call it and realize she couldn't actually shoot. What was he to do? He heard a bang on the door, and realized that they would blow it soon.

"Then you are my hostage," the young boy said, smirking with a dangerous glint in his eye. Without a second warning, he grabbed her and held the gun to her head. She gasped and shook with fear. He whispered to her, "This way, it will seem like _I _have the shield and you are not willingly cooperating. Just fall down if I fire a gunshot in the air, and keep shielding." Ann gave a frightened nod and he dragged her as his "hostage" out from behind the house.

There was a man and a woman kneeling on the ground with their hands on their heads, undoubtedly being kept in this position by the heavily armed man pointing a gun at them. The man with his hands on his head seemed to be Mr. Lloyd and the woman Mrs. Opal. She was flustered, trying to explain, "No, we have not been helping the Emperor control the world! We have been containing him this entire time because he's…"

"Immortal?" asked the young man, slipping into the mask and role of the Demon Emperor. His voice boomed out powerfully over the wind, resounding off the hills. All three people whirled around to see him holding a gun to Ann's head. For effect, he let out a maniacal laugh. They were a hundred feet away, and he calculated that he could fake Ann's death from that distance if necessary. He continued, "Believe what the woman says, they had indeed kept me caged here for quite some time. You are probably wondering why they didn't simply kill me." The Emperor laughed, "Oh, they tried. They insistently tried every means of execution, _every _means from beheading to hanging, searching for one that would keep my heart still, but to no avail. And now, because of your ridiculous terrorism, I, Lelouch vi Britannia, am free once more! Now, drop your weapons or the girl dies."

The armed man, despite his eyes widening further in fear and astonishment with each syllable of the Emperor's speech, declared, "I'll kill you first!" and he shot at the ageless Emperor. He gasped in shock when the bullet reflected back. Ann's shield was still good.

"I felt that you would try at least one shot at me before submitting," The Emperor sneered. Though his voice was calm and commanding, he wondered worriedly how long it would take the terrorists inside to set up their explosives. Or was the entrance impervious to explosives? It had been made out of a dense metal. He walked closer to the terrorist, closing up the distance between them. "I am immortal, impervious to all bullets! Now, drop your weapons and put your hands up or the girl dies."

The man twitched. The Emperor smiled; perhaps he wouldn't have to fake Ann's death after all. 90 feet. Silence. 80 feet.

"You are hesitating? Perhaps you hope that your comrades will come bursting out any second? It is no use. Obviously, the entrance is made of heavy metal, unable to be blown down by homemade explosives."

70 feet. He could almost feel Ann's heart racing.

The woman, Opal, looked at him wildly. He realized that his guess had been correct, and he chuckled inwardly. "Isn't that right, my previous captor?" he asked.

"Yes…" the woman said, defeated, "It is."

60 feet. 50 feet. 40 feet. The armed man could do nothing as he got closer except hope that the facts about the door were not true and his fellow men would blast the door open.

Then, the sound of a contained explosion sounded of inside the facility, but no one came out. He could see the armed man's face fall as he realized that his comrades were indeed stuck in there.

30 feet. 20 feet. 10 feet.

The Emperor walked toward the armed man, "I will give you ten seconds to decide whether this girl lives or dies. Though I assure you, if I have to kill her you won't survive either."

He had now basically closed in all distance between them. The man dropped his gun and held up his hands. Victory. The ageless Demon Emperor said, "Now drop to the ground, and kneel like the others."

The man did so, humiliation showing on his face. The young Emperor removed the gun from Ann's head, causing her to sigh with relief and struck the man, knocking him unconscious. The Demon Emperor then faced the other two.

"Let me congratulate you on your colorful monologue…should it be 'your Highness' now?" said Mr. Lloyd, the white haired old man with large round glasses and calm smirk.

"Ah, Earl Asplund. I presume that you were here to try and convince them to do research on my Geass abilities?"

"Indeed. They are, after all, quite interesting, almost as interesting as your acting abilities."

"You are the same," the Emperor said, smiling a little nostalgically, "Though quite a bit older. Even I did not think I was in there as long as twenty years…"

"Well, let me just say that you haven't aged a day yourself, though you are a bit paler."

"Don't talk to him, Lloyd!" spat Mrs. Opal. "You talk as though you were old friends!"

"Mrs. Opal, I presume? Pleased to make your acquaintance as well, although I can't say that I am completely happy with my treatment in that cell of yours," the Emperor said with a mocking air of courtesy.

"Kill me if you want. The Black Knights will have you back in your cell in no time."

The Emperor sighed, "I do not have the patience to bother with killing people like you, Mrs. Opal." He struck the woman on the head, causing her to fall over. Ann shrieked and ran to her. "Don't worry, Ann, she is merely unconscious. Unfortunately, Lloyd, I will have to do the same to you; otherwise, you'll be pegged as my accomplice."

"Ahhh, that _is _unfortuna-" however, before the white-haired man could finish, he too was knocked over the head, and fell over. There was a long moment of silence as Ann looked from one unconscious form to next and seemed to be attempting to realize what had happened.

* * *

><p>"W-what do we do now?" asked Ann after a long pause, closing her eyes, apparently resting them from their newfound vision. The girl was dazed from everything that had happened.<p>

"Well, they'll wake up after a while, help and probably arrest whoever survived the implosion in the facility, and come after us."

Ann dropped her head a little, "Ummm…"

"Don't tell me that you want to go in and make sure that everyone is all right. They probably had the sense to stay far away from the explosion, just in case it didn't work."

"N-no..it's just…"

"What, wench?"

"That wish that you spoke of…" she began, opening her eyes and turning her gray gaze on him, "I will not help you take over Britannia again."

The young man, previously an Emperor, blinked in boredom. He told her, "Well, that's fine, because I don't plan on taking over the world again."

She twitched in surprise, "You don't?"

"No. My wish is something entirely different."

There was another silence. The young man bent over and began looking through Opal's purse. He found some car keys and, seeing that the key chain on them matched a red car parked nearby, he started for it.

"How do I... know you're not lying?" Ann asked.

"Well, if you think I am lying then…" The former Emperor threw his gun down and threw up his hands in a gesture of indifference, "Take a cell phone from one of them. Do you know Kallen Kozuki's number? I believe you do. Notify her that I've escaped, and I am certain that the Black Knights will swarm and capture me again, locking me up just as they did before. However, until the Black Knights come, there is nothing you can do to stop me."

Ann made a little sound of objection, but quieted down, as she must have realized he was right. She wasn't willing to kill him, he couldn't die at any rate, and she had no means of forcing him to stay.

"I am leaving. I invite you to come with me. You promised to grant my one wish, and I assure you that that wish is not re-conquering Britannia. We are allies, now."

"Allies? What is this wish?"

"I'll tell you when you are ready." The young man looked closely at her, "Your eyes are slightly different from when I first took off my blindfold. They're clearer, more focused. How do you like seeing the world? "

"E-everything's amazing…" her clear, gray eyes filled with tears, "It's beautiful, what you've given me. I can see…I can protect people. just…I just…"

"What?"

"I want to…trust you…I can't believe you could give me something like this after…after…"

"After slaughtering people as the Demon Emperor?"

"Yes! Why…?"

"I refuse to justify myself to anyone. What I've done, I've done. Rationalizing will not make my deeds disappear from the pages of history. But I will never commit such actions again."

She gulped.

"Coming with me, allowing me to be your ally will not require you to do anything morally compromising," he assured her.

She was on the brink of coming over to his side.

"Take that cell phone from Opal. Go ahead, take it. I order you." His voice was commanding and assured, but not harsh. Ann did as he told her. "Any time you doubt my motives, you can call and have me locked up again. Deal?"

She gave a slight, nervous nod of the head.

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes."

* * *

><p>The young man and the girl drove the car for most of the distance along the dirt road, until they came to a crossroad. They were surrounded on all sides by green fields, and by one of them there was a running creek. The young man stopped the car.<p>

"Where do each of these go?"

"Umm, I really don't know. I only came when I was half blind, and the guard was driving me, so I can't really piece together the figures…"

"Never mind," he said. Then, he saw a sign by the road, but couldn't quite see what it said, "Just go read what that sign over there says."

"What?"

"Get out of the car and read the sign."

Ann did as he told her, and walked over to the sign. She stared at it for a while.

"Well, what does it say, wench?"

"…I don't know…"

"You don't know?"

"…I can't…read."

The young boy slapped his forehead. Of course the girl couldn't read. She'd been half-blind her entire life, and had recently obtained her vision.

"Can you feel it and find out what it says?"

"No."

The boy clenched his teeth in frustration. "You learn to read first thing once we are settled in town." He stepped out of the car himself, and went over to read the sign. Apparently, the town was three miles down one road, and there was a city ten miles in the opposite direction. He thought hard about this, and then he said, "Can you walk ten miles, wench?"

"I don't know…I don't think I've ever walked that much at one time…"

"Three miles, then. I am sorry but we will have to walk at least that much." The young man walked back to the car and turned into one of the roads, the one leading ten miles into a large town. The red car was a convertible and had a GPS system with an autopilot option. He directed the car to go to the city ten miles away, and jumped out of it when it started to move. Landing not quite gracefully, he grimaced and stood up.

"Why did you do that?" Ann asked, slightly bewildered.

"When they come tracking us, they'll follow the car into the city. We should also take a dip in that stream over there, in case they send dogs to track us."

"Okay, then."

The young man went into the stream first, and immediately began drinking obsessively. It was his first drink in years, his first sight and taste of water in literally years. He lay back in the stream and allowed the water to rush over him, a content smile on his face. The young man, formerly an Emperor, came up for a breath and saw Ann staring worriedly at him and hesitantly at the water.

"Wench, get in. I told you that they might bring bloodhounds."

"Ummm, all right." The girl hesitantly got in the water and dunked herself.

"All right, hat should be sufficient. Now we'll head for the town about three miles down from here."

The girl nodded. The demon and his contractor began their walk toward civilization

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><p>"There! I see the town!" Ann cried.<p>

The man who looked up and saw that the town was indeed on the horizon. It seemed to be a fairly rustic town, though well-developed enough to have the basis restaurants, hotels, etc. The dirt road had led to a paved one, and so now they were definitely in more civilized territory. The youth began talking about the next part of his plan, "Obviously, I can't show up in town wearing a prisoner's jumpsuit, so you will go in alone. Find a hotel for the night, and then come and get me outside of town at dark. I'll show you where I'll be waiting."

They picked a spot outside of town where he would be hidden, when suddenly Ann mentioned, "Umm, you know I don't have any money…"

"What?"

"I normally have a few dollars on my purse, but I left that at the facility…prison…"

"Is there a way you could get money quickly?"

"I could call my friends…"

No," said the youth, "That won't do. They would ask questions, and you need to be completely vanished at this moment."

"B-but I'll want to see my friends ag-gain."

He sighed, dismissing her worry with a flick of his hand, "Of course you will. Just, at this moment you have been kidnapped by the Demon Emperor Lelouch, remember?"

"But I haven't."

This girl was a little thick for his tastes. "But you _have _according to what the Black Knights will hear when they come looking for us. Eventually, you'll return to your home with a convenient excuse about how you managed to trick me and escape, but for now you need to be gone. Completely gone."

"My friends will be worried…"

"They'll be fine. Now, back to how we're going to get money…"

He thought for a while, "Robbery? Too dangerous, even with our unique abilities...especially if we happened to be seen. Begging? Absolutely out of the question. Are you sure that you have absolutely no money on you?"

"Yes."

"Not even five dollars in your pockets?"

The girl checked in her pockets, "Actually," she said, a little surprised herself, "I have two dollars and…fifty cents. I guess I put it there a while ago and forgot about it."

"Excellent. We'll have to make due."

The girl's sunken gray eyes stared at him in disbelief, "But how are we going to rent a hotel with two dollars and fifty cents?"

He snapped his fingers, and looked at her admonishingly. "Have you not heard the story about how the Messiah fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish?"

"Ummm, yes I… have?"

The ageless youth waved his hand dramatically, saying, "I am the man of miracles, wench. I will make this work."

* * *

><p>He did make it work.<p>

First, they managed to steal some clothes that someone had hung in their yard. The young man was surprised that anyone existed in their technologically advanced world that did not use dryers instead, but Ann seemed to think this was common enough.

Then, they went into a bar and he offered to gamble everything in his pocket on a single game. Ann gasped in disbelief when he made this challenge, but he ignored her. A curious man took up his challenge, lost in ten minutes, and then their money doubled. The young man declared that no one could be victorious against him in chess. This earned some laughs, but more people became interested and accepted the challenge. As he beat more opponents in record time, he soon drew the attention of everyone in the bar, even people with no knowledge of chess. They were all dazzled by this witty, clever young man, whose face they couldn't quite see in the dark corner he had picked for himself, and who, in the course of three hours, turned two dollars and fifty cents into sixty dollars. Some said he must be cheating, but the ten observers around him could find no illegal move on his part, and so they had to grudgingly pay up their money.

Ann sweated by him the entire time, thinking that he was going to lose everything he'd earned in an instant. But his mind was still in shape, even after years of imprisonment. Of course it was, he had kept it sharp be revisiting all of the chess games he had played in his mind. So when he had won a hundred dollars, the two walked out of the bar. True, there was nearly a bar fight when everyone realized they had been played like that, but a short, charismatic speech on his part dissolved any anger in the room.

They rented a hotel room. The first thing Ann said was, "I didn't know they gambled on chess in bars."

"Typically, only upper class people do. I'm pretty certain that most of the people I played were well-off and hoping to show off their intelligence."

Ann was quiet again. Then, it looked like she struggled with herself a little bit. And she said, "I-I just wanted you to know…t-that was amazing amazing."

"I cannot die, have given you the power of sight and Geass, have killed numerous people, was the Demon Emperor twenty years ago….and now you say I am amazing after winning a few chess games." He smirked.

She was flustered, "No, I suppose that all of that is unusual too…but, the chess…that was really amazing because…because…it required smartness."

His eyes glinted at her in annoyance. He cleared his throat, "Wench, we need to discuss a few details about our alliance."

"Such as… what your wish is?"

"No, but a few simple conditions. First, you must learn how to read."

Ann groaned.

"Why do you object to becoming educated?"

"Because I'm horrible at becoming educated. My grades have always been awful."

"Not anymore. Moving on: Second, after learning how to read you must obtain an education in every subject."

"No…"

"Third," he said, ignoring her, "You must learn how to speak properly, without stuttering, hesitating, and saying 'um' every time you are put into a difficult situation.

"I d-do not…ummm…" Her cheeks burned with frustration, "Whatever…"

"Fourth, you must learn to play chess."

Ann was completely flushed with embarrassment. "What does this have to do with our contract?"

"Only this: I will ensure that my wish is not fulfilled by a scruffy, illiterate girl who doesn't know how to play chess."

Now it was Ann's turn to sigh. The young man ignored her, sat down on the bed and began to read the magazine he had picked up in the hotel lobby. He immediately flipped to the section on "Liberty Day: Commemorating the Assassination of the Demon Emperor." He chuckled as he saw pictures of people celebrating in the streets, of some kids throwing darts at his image, and of some of the parades people organized on that day. His chuckling stopped as he turned to a picture of his actual assassination, taken at the moment that Zero had the sword stuck through his heart.

"What's wrong?" asked Ann.

"I'm revisiting the day of my death," he said, grimly, "My first one, at any rate."

He flipped to a section on Nunnally, and soon his eyes were glued to the pictures there. His heart leapt; She was out of the wheelchair! He had hoped that since she had been able to undo her the Geass that made her blind, perhaps she could undo the one that made her crippled. And he was right: she was standing, standing on her own two feet, with bright eyes and a gracious smile. And…she had grown up so much. She had to be thirty-four by now, in her prime of life, a beautiful woman rather than a cute girl. But he thought he still saw some of that original innocence in her expression, with some sadness beneath it all.

In the picture, she was standing gracefully with her husband and her children, she had three now: Princess Eulalie, Prince Roland, and Princess Semele. He looked at the husband. It was definitely not Suzaku, as Ann had told him earlier. Prince Ricardo of Brazil was his name. Someone from the Americas? Probably a marriage to show the world that the Britannian Royal Family was not-so Britannian anymore, while at the same time marrying into some sort of rich, royal family to keep up some of the prestige. It had to be for political reasons. That was the only reason she would do it, he thought.

"Wench, you lied to me."

"What?"

"You told me that Nunnally was married to Suzaku Kururugi, or a similar Japanese name, yet his name is Ricardo de Brazil and here is a picture of him. Does he look Japanese to you?"

Ann stared at the picture hopelessly for a while, "Umm, I really can't tell…"

"Wench! What did I say about using the word 'um?'"

"Uhhh…"

"That counts as well. If you are going to answer me, then answer without using those ridiculous noises in between your words; if you are not going to answer me, then bite your tongue and stop them from coming out."

Ann looked humiliated and defeated for a moment. Her lip trembled a little. Then she said very slowly and clearly, "I really do not know what you are talking about. I do not know what Japanese people look like in comparison to everyone else, and Ricard-whatever sounds like a Japanese name to me."

The young man threw up his hands in frustration, "God, wench, you can't even tell the difference between a Latin American name and a Japanese one? How uneducated are you?"

She hung her head.

"And _please _do not hang your head that way; it is quite undignified."

She snapped her head up. "I-I'm sorry."

He decided to save the work of telling her not to apologize for later. Right now, he decided, it was time to stick to the main subject. "Back to our otiginal subject: Why did you lie to me?"

"I d-didn't. I asked Mrs. Opal and sh-she told me to tell you that Nunnally had married the Japanese noble Suza-something Kugi, or whatever it was."

"Obviously, they lied to see what effect the news would have on me."

"What effect?"

He couldn't tell her, obviously, that Suzaku was supposed to be dead but was actually alive and playing the part of Zero, who had 'assassinated' him. His mind drifted from the girl's question for a moment and he wondered why they had lied to him. They suspected Suzaku was not dead, it seemed. They also had a suspicion that he, the Demon Emperor, would know about it. Giving him an absurd bit of information such as Suzaku marrying Nunnally was poorly thought out...an yet…could it be that someone suspected Zero's real identity? He shrank inwardly at the thought. If anyone discovered that the new Zero was Suzaku, then everything he'd worked for would come unraveling into chaos. Instead of having a Demon Emperor to hate with all their might and a hero to love for destroying him, they would have the truth.

The truth. He shuddered, imagining commoners gossiping it to each other: "Yeah, well, the Demon Emperor actually was Zero who wanted to kill his father but when the Black Knights betrayed him in exchange for a ceasefire after the first use of FLEIJA, he decided to take over the world instead using a semi-magical power called Geass and set himself up as the cruelest Dictator in the world so that everyone would hate him, but THEN he had arranged for himself to be assassinated by his knight, Suzaku Kururugi, who's not dead, you know he can't die easily because of said magical power ordering him to live with all of his might, but is actually a backstabber who has betrayed everyone on the planet at some point or another, granted, he's always done it for the best motives, so…"

Instead of having the simple concept of an evil villain and valiant hero, the public would be left with two ruthless backstabbers who had lied to the world, both of which could not be killed. His carefully constructed play would become a farce.

"Umm, you suddenly just started staring off into space. Is something wrong?"

He put his hand to his forehead, massaging it in annoyance. "Wench, what did I say about using 'um'?"

Ann bit her lip, "You said not to say it ever again."

"Precisely. By the way, tomorrow we will leave this town immediately, and at the same time begin your reading lessons. Get some sleep. You'll probably need it."

Ann didn't bother to object to the reading lessons, but collapsed on the bed and in a few minutes was quietly asleep. The young man mentally reviewed all of the challenges that presented themselves. He would have to avoid detection from these terrorists and, undoubtedly, the Black Knights once they found out he had escaped. They may have found out already, he thought, and are searching the other city this very moment, most likely in secret. He would have to return Ann to her regular life, as it was better not to have her listed as one of his accomplices and madly pursued to the death along with him. No, he would rather have her rehearse some story about how she escaped, feed it to the Black Knights, and then secretly stay in contact with her in order to keep track of her progress as her Geass evolved.

One thought bothered him. She was fanatic about keeping people alive. How would he get her to kill him when the time came? Should he trick her into doing it? No...he would transform her, convince her, make her realize that his immortality was unnatural and that it was a good thing to end it for him.

But it would be a long time before the girl's Geass would evolve, and by then he would transform her into his Grim Reaper. Not the shy, stammering, uneducated maid he now accompanied-he rolled in head in annoyance at the idea of being killed by such a person-but a powerful Geass user. In the meantime, he was considering see how some of his old friends were faring.

* * *

><p><strong>So, there it is. I hope Lelouch was not out of character. I thought his annoyance with Ann's lack of education and his insistence that she improve would make sense. If anyone thinks that that would be out of character, then please tell me. Criticism is always welcome.<strong>

**Oh, and please review. And Happy New Year, although I realize I am saying this rather late...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, I have updated yet another chapter. I feel the least confident about this one; it has been the most challenging yet. The first chapter came easily, and the second was just following the logical consequences of the actions in the first chapter, but this third chapter required more figuring out. I hope that it isn't more awkward as a result. If anyone sees any mistakes, inconsistencies, improbabilities, characters not acting in character, etc. then please just tell me and I will try to fix it.**

**Disclaimer: Some fanfiction authors are quite creative with these, but I do not share that talent. I believe it is enough to say that I do not own Code Geass.**

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 3:<span>**

The young man awoke early, when the first signs of dawn were peeking through the curtains. His first reaction was surprise that he was not strapped to a chair in a cell. For a second he has the fleeting idea that he was at Ashford Academy, but then previous day's events came flooding back to him. He sat up, and stretched, fully enjoying his freedom of movement.

His eyes around the room, making completely sure that everything was real. He glanced at the bed where Ann slept quietly, and remembered his contract. He wondered how long it would take for her Geass to evolve to both of her eyes, at which point she could end his existence. His own Geass had taken about a year to fully evolve; a month for his right eye to lose control, plus a year for which it had been sealed away in his subconscious and hence unused, and then a few more months to spread to his other eye. However, he had used his Geass with unusual frequency, and had even used it on the collective subconscious of the world, so perhaps his had evolved faster than usual. He wasn't sure how long it normally took, although he remembered Rolo had possessed Geass since he was a child, but still in young adulthood it hadn't taken over his left eye, most likely because Rolo had to use it sparingly due to it practically giving him a heart attack each time he used it. He hoped the girl's would evolve in a short amount of time. The more time he spent in the world, the more likely Zero Requiem would be found out.

The young man opened the curtains and allowed the sunlight to stream in. The girl's eyes began fluttering as the light hit her face. She moaned a little, still sleeping, and turned over.

Annoyed, he put his hand on her shoulder, intending to shake her awake. Instead, he was overwhelmed as everything around him turned unusually dark.

He pulled away from her, and it returned to normal. He touched her shoulder again, and it again darkened, and he heard the sound of guns firing. What was this? He knew it wasn't real; it was shrouded in the veil of the surreal. He wasn't in the hotel room anymore, but in a dark, narrow space that seemed to be closing in. He removed his hand and saw, once again, the room return to the hotel room.

He was baffled, but then he recalled, with a start, how C.C. could reach people's minds and look at their memories when she so desired. It was part of her Code, and thus now he had the same ability. He had seen a glimpse of Ann's memories, or her dream. Curious, he touched her shoulder again, and saw that he was seeing through Ann's eyes in the cell.

* * *

><p>The air in the place of Ann's memories was oppressive and heavy. There was not a sound in the dark place besides some heavy, pained breathing. Ann's vision was shadowy, with black silhouettes forming a slight contrast to the gray background. There was a stream of light coming in from above, but it was dim the way the sun is when it shines behind heavy clouds.<p>

Ann was kneeling at someone's bedside, holding the person's warm hand. "Dad?"

"Ann." Her father grasped her hand back, " I don't have much time."

"Th-the ambulance is...is..."

"Not going to be here in time. Ann you must promise me something."

"Wh-What?"

"Promise me that you'll never try to hurt anyone, ever, Ann. It is not worth it, even at the cost of your own life, because you die inside every time you hurt another. Promise me that you will never allow anyone to be hurt or killed, and never stand by and allow them to be so harmed. Promise me that you will not hate anybody, or ever seek revenge, not even on the men from today. Life is too short to waste on bitterness. Remember that everyone has some goodness in them."

"B-b-but it's n-normal..."

"Ann, don't fall for that excuse. It's true that so many people are willing to kill, or harm others, and that they have so many justifications to do so. It is perfectly normal to justify those things, and I hold nothing against the people who behave that way. They only destroy themselves, and they are to be pitied. But you must live above normal pettiness, vengefulness and aggression."

"D-Dad..."

"And you must take care of little Aaron when I'm gone."

"N-no! You won't b-be..."

"Do you promise that you will live as I have taught you?"

She pressed her head against his hand, "Yes, I w-will."

"I am glad." then the man said one more thing, "Remember that life is precious because...because there is nothing else."

"What d-do y-you mean?"

The breathing, which had been slowing down, now completely stopped. Her father's hand slipped out of her grasp.

After death, there is nothing. After death, there is nothing. Her mother had said something about heaven; her father had never commented on it. But now, it was his last word. What did he mean, nothing? Then, the warmth and love and pain and nobleness that was her father was...

Ann screamed in horror and realization.

* * *

><p>The young Code Bearer saw this, and he saw this death bed promise drive her entire life, as she took her promise as the only sacred thing in her life. Hence, when her mother sent her to the Nunnally li Britannia School for the Blind, and she saw the silhouettes of an older boy beating on a younger boy, she knew immediately what to do. Dropping everything she held, she ran over and took the punches for that little boy. When she fell down, she got back up. When they made fun of her, she just bit her lip. When they tossed her aside, she pulled herself up and got back in the way.<p>

This baffled the kids in the school, but not more than once. The second time she witnessed a fight, someone knew well enough to restrain her for her own good. This act of concern on the part of that friendly kind scarred her more than any beating; The frustration, the tears, and the struggling to the brink of exhaustion were details still sharply engraved in he mind.

The feeling of powerlessness stings, doesn't it Ann? the young man mused to himself at the girl's memories.

She tried to be kind to everyone, even the bullies who had punched her when she deliberately got in the way. The school soon took a universal, unspoken consensus on her: she was retarded. She could not focus during class, and so had the worst grades, she could hardly speak without stammering, she broke down from sheer nervousness whenever she spoke to a teacher or authority figure, she behaved in irrational ways, and she made no friends except for those who pitied her. Hence, she was labeled as unintelligent, and she learned to accept that view of herself as the truth.

She dropped out of that school, learned how to clean and became autonomous by working as a maid. She supported Aaron, her little brother who loved to play in the streets and be in the light and fresh air, and who was her fresh air; she loved him so much.

Then, one day she was cleaning a client's house. The client had a very important guest over, Mrs. Kozuki, also known as Lady Stadtfeld Weinberg. She was nerve-wracked when she realized that such an important guest was over, so nervous that when the lady said hello to her, she knocked over a vase. Her employer was annoyed with her, but the lady talked to her kindly, and said, "Don't worry. You remind me of...someone. My mother, actually. You're blind? Well let me help you with that vase."

It had been so long since anyone had been that kind to her. Mrs. Kozuki looked up her history at school, and asked Ann why she always tried to run in front of people's punches. Ann couldn't think of a good answer at the time. She always wished, afterwards, that she had said something better, but all that came out was, "I just...I just had to."

Mrs. Kozuki offered her the job at the facility. She was told that she would clean out a prisoner's cell, but Mrs. Kozuki told her not to be afraid, that she was more than capable of handling it. And then, shaking with fear, Ann entered the room. And she heard the prisoner's voice.

"Who are you?" it called out

The young Code Bearer was shocked to hear his own voice as Ann heard it. That can't be my voice_, _he told himself. It was a tortured, weary sound; a sound to wreak heartbreak. He felt Ann completely taken of guard, uncertain at the pity she suddenly felt for this man. I did not sound like that, he repeated to himself, humiliated at the thought he could have inspired pity in this girl.

"I-I'm sorry… I'm only here to clean…"

And then, suddenly, that same wrenching voice in which somehow what was angry and bitter out was merged with unshed tears, tears of blood. "Who is the current ruler of Britannia?...And how…how is she?"

The young maid's hand trembled and she nearly dropped her broom. The voice had melted her heart and it was now gushing with sympathy for this man. His voice! His voice had that same softness and pain that…that…her father had when he talked to her on his death bed. And the prisoner had that voice when he was talking about her, the Empress of Britannia.

_Nunnally_

And Ann, back in the cell that she had cleaned every day, had thought that this young man could not be evil, could not deserve to be chained up so pitifully. There was some misunderstanding; she would have to talk to Ms. Kozuki… Ms. Kozuki, that firm gentle voice, would understand.

"Don't give me your pity…I am a demon, a mass murderer… I killed my sister, my mother, my father, and countless others, wench…" he said

Those are not my exact words. Some of this is how she sees it, not how it is, the young Code bearer realized.

And then, a mature Kallen's voice sounded out, "Do not trust him, Ann. He is a liar, a manipulator; he used people and then threw them away."

"But M-Mrs. Opal said that you were the one that always told them to stop treating him badly."

The shadow of Kallen Kozuki winced. "I—it's just—He did not deserve what they were doing to him…. I am not sure what he deserves, or even if he should be punished at all… I have my doubts about…him… but just because I do, doesn't mean you should trust him. You're far too…"

"He is good inside, right?"

Silence.

"He asked how you were doing."

And then his voice, "If you let me go, I'll kill you, wench. I am the Demon in the bottle; I kill the person who sets me free."

And she had her serious doubts; she remembered what Opal had said and Ms. Kozuki had said, and the young man himself had said, and out of fear for her life she seriously considered getting up and running for her life. But she had to save him, even if she died. She had promised her father, hadn't she?

Besides, she remembered the sound of his voice when he had asked about those people: Ms. Kozuki, C.C., the Empress, and others. No one could sound like that and be completely heartless, she decided. His warning that she would regret it lost on her, she freed him.

And then they were standing outside the door to the cell. The hallways were darker even than usual, so she could only make out the blurred outline of the people in front of her. The terrorists? Ann's mind experienced a moment when it simply stopped working, as the terrorists called out, "It's the Demon Emperor!"

The what? Ann thought blankly.

The…_what? _

"Ann, get behind me," ordered a powerful, commanding voice. The young man she had just helped? "NOW!" the voice shouted, and she heard the sound of someone leaping in front of her, bullets firing, and someone slumping to the floor. What had happened? What was happening? Where was the prisoner she had just freed?

"Ann… down here," she heard his voice say weakly, only to be interrupted by the terrorists screaming to fire again. She heard him leap up again, and again there was the sound of bullets.

And the young man whom she had freed only a few minutes ago fell back on her. Stunned, she grasped him, and tried to hold him up only to feel her knees buckle, herself dropping to the ground. Her heart was racing; her mind blank and confused. Then, she felt a warm liquid pouring over her hands and her clothing, and her heart nearly stopped. Blood. They had shot him. And they were going to kill her to.

Then, she felt a mixture of frustration, horror, and self-disgust: She had just set this man free, only to have him jump in front of bullets for her, and now she was going to be killed as well. She thought back to that horrible memory when a kid had restrained her to prevent her from stopping a fight. Every emotion she had felt then, every wound from that day reopened and bled along with the prisoner on the floor.

She was so _weak. _She was so _powerless. _She had always worried about whether or not she would mentally be able to keep her promise when it came to risking her life to save another's. She had worried that she would not have the resolve. However, she always believed that if her conviction was strong, then she would automatically have the power. In truth, no matter how firm her resolution, she was utterly incapable of helping anyone. She was just a stupid girl, a retarded girl who was silly enough to get in the way, who had the egotism to think that she was important enough to be able to help anyone.

Ann clenched her fist. Now there would be nothing. Nothing, just like for her father.

* * *

><p>Did she want power? Her father had said, "You will always have the power to do the right things, and to save lives. No sacrifice you make for the sake of goodness will be in vain." She had believed it; now she would die unable to stop even her own death, much less anyone else's. Yes, she wanted power.<p>

Did she want to live? Of course. Did she deserve to? Everyone deserved to live, as her father had said. Everyone. After life, there was nothing.

Was she willing to walk a lonely road to possess this power? A desolate image, seeing the shadow of her father's gravestone, listening as others talked in school but never becoming part of the conversations, receiving noisy, singing cards for special occasions from a family that never seemed to visit. What stopped her life from being lonely now? Only her little brother. Yes she could walk a lonely road. She had done nothing else.

She would accept this power. She would accept Geass.

* * *

><p>The young man drew away from Ann's consciousness, returning to the realistic world of the hotel room. He frowned, annoyed and even angry that Ann viewed him with such an emotion as pity. But he smoothed his jagged emotions at the thought that she would not feel that for very long then. No, she would come to regret letting him go, instead of leaving him for the terrorists to toy with and kill multiple times. She would come to hate him, to hate Geass, and he wouldn't even have to lift a finger to make her.<p>

He was glad he had this power. Just that one tidbit there gave him a good insight into Ann's character. He was slightly worried now about how he was going to convince Ann to kill him in the future. He would have to work that out somehow...

As he was thinking this, Ann opened her eyes, using her hand to shield them from the morning light. Turning her gaze at him, and said incredulously, "Then it wasn't all a weird dream?"

"It seems not, wench. Now, get up."

Blinking, she pulled herself out of the covers, still dressed in the same clothes as yesterday. Her hair was messy and her face still had that wistful look etched on it. But her eyes were looking around with disbelief.

"Terrorists attacked yesterday," she said, recounting the events of yesterday.

"Yes."

"You…you are…the Demon Emperor." Her face suddenly flashed with a bit of dread.

"Correct."

"And…y-you _got up… _after they shot you six times."

"I did not count the bullets."

"You can't die…"

"Correct." Not yet at any rate, he added mentally.

"And, now I can see."

"Yes."

Ann hunched over on the bed. "I dunno," she mumbled, "It's all so…so…"

"Bizarre? Abnormal? Unbelievable? You didn't have trouble believing what was happening when they were shooting bullets at us. Your own vision is proof of what happened." He looked her over, analyzing her mental condition, "We don't have time for you to doubt what's going on."

"B-but… it's just…" she looked at him, "I don't understand... Demon Emperor would have shot me once I got out of the building, then shot the terrorist and Mr. Lloyd and Ms. Opal."

"I told you, I need you to grant my wish. Of course I wouldn't kill you, wench."

She flinched at the mention of the wish, "But Mr. Lloyd, Ms. Opal?"

"It was simply unnecessary."

"But, the D-Demon Emperor killed people u-unnecessarily plenty of times…"

He sighed, and pondered whether he should tell her the whole story of Zero Requiem and how he had deliberately demonized himself. No, he decided it would be completely unnecessary and even counterproductive, as she would be less willing to kill him when the time came if she knew the truth.

He told her simply, "I believe there is a difference between what I consider necessary and you consider necessary." Appraising her facial expression carefully, he saw she was still unconvinced. He would have to try a different tactic. "I suppose that there are some legitimate inconsistencies in the figure that has given you nightmares as a child, and the man you see in front of you now. Good that you pointed them out; perhaps you have some moments of mental clarity, wench. Figure it out. Think whatever you want to think about why I have changed. Perhaps the media depicted me slightly different than what I actually was during my reign? Perhaps being treated so…_kindly…_ by the Black Knights during my captivity has caused me to regret my crimes?" He found himself smirking at the idea, "Who knows? Perhaps being beheaded, racked, torn to pieces, electrocuted, hanged, starved, dehydrated, and then blindfolded and chained to a chair for twenty years in complete solitude brings about genuine contrition in one's soul. You can believe that, if you cling to the assumption that I am not such a horrible human being. But I am the very same individual who once bore the title of 99th Emperor, Lelouch vi Britannia, and I am a demon." He looked her directly in the eyes, "Now, wench, do you doubt me?"

Dumbly, she shook her head. Then, she closed her eyes and said, "All right. I guess it makes sense. You didn't die twenty years ago. You can't die. But they locked you up after you died that one time." She was still sorting it out in her head. "Wh-why…how is it that you can't die?"

He shrugged. "To be honest, I don't know all the scientific details myself. Apparently my cells are in a state of constant renewal and regrowth, but even that doesn't explain how I survived some of the more thorough forms of execution, such as beheading. To be honest, I thought that that one would work, but I didn't even lose consciousness as…" he saw that Ann was getting sick.

"When did you become that way?"

He saw no reason to lie to her about this, but he didn't want her to know too much, especially about how the Code was passed on. Plus, it would be fun to evade her. _"Post mortem patris mei," _he said, the smirk on his lips growing by the second.

"What…?"

"Oh, you don't know what I just said? For shame, wench. It seems that you need Latin lessons."

"That's not fair! Why can't you just answer me in English?"

He decided to completely ignore this last question, dismissing it with a wave of his hand. "We have business to attend to today. First, we get something to eat. I'll tell you our further plans over breakfast."

"Why won't you answer my question?"

He shot her a look.

"Umm—I-I mean s-sorry I know I'm not supposed to use 'um,' just… I mean… fine, whatever."

They were both messy looking, but the young man told himself that was the least of their worries. They left the hotel and went across the street to a restaurant. He winced whenever passerby looked at them, and hoped they were only gaping at their scruffiness, not recognizing the Demon Emperor from twenty years ago. Perhaps it would be a good idea to keep his head down?

He glanced at Ann and saw she was flicking her eyes wildly around, gaping at everything she saw. That idiot girl, he thought, is not paying attention at all. She could get run over like that and she'd never even know what hit her. He understood her being excited and perplexed at being able to see for the first time in her life, but that didn't mean she had to act like she had been born yesterday.

He was interrupted from these thoughts by a shrill sound: "Mommy! Mommy! Demon Empewo!" exclaimed a child. Both companions froze; Ann sucked in a sharp breath and the young man whirled around. To his relief, the child that had yelled that out was not pointing at him but at a poster that said, "Liberty Day." It had an enlarged photograph of the moment Zero had stabbed him. He sighed and turned around only to see Ann still staring.

"Wench, it's fine. They obviously don't…" but he realized that she was not staring out of worry for her companion's identity being discovered, but out of horror that such graphic violence was being displayed and glorified publicly.

"Does that disturb you? Yes, they put that up there because they love it," he said sarcastically, "It gives them hope. Look at the writing on it, 'the day we were set free.' They're happy to celebrate such an act of violence as a symbol of their freedom. Now pull yourself together. You'll accomplish nothing by keeling over just from seeing a picture with a little blood in it."

She looked at him, and then at the picture. "That's…" it seemed she was going to repeat something about violence being horrible, but suddenly she stopped, another thought striking her. After a moment, she asked, "Why are you smiling?"

The young man was confused, as he was obviously not smiling at the moment but frowning most severely at her. Then, he realized that she meant the poster. He asked her, irritated, "Why do you think I am smiling?"

"Because…" Ann seemed to be thinking hard.

He interrupted her, as he was anxious not to stand in front of his picture too long, in case anyone passing by might notice the similarities. He told her, "Let's go, now."

They went to the restaurant, and his planning and calculations were swept out of his head by the thought that now he was going to eat something for the first time in twenty years. His mouth watered slightly as he ordered, and he didn't notice the thoughtful expression on Ann's face until she began talking.

"Umm, so what…"

He shot a weighty glance at her for saying "um." She caught it, and bit her lip. Then she continued, "S-so what do I call you?"

He thought about this. "I suppose it must be L-2."

"L-2? Why?"

He sighed with annoyance, "It obviously won't do for you to be addressing me by a royal title, and my name would also give it all away. Even calling me 'Sir' would be unusual, as we appear to be the same age. I will not have you addressing me by something that will call people's attention and stick out in their memories."

She blinked, "How come?"

He was tempted to roll his eyes, "On the other hand, I can order you to call me 'Your majesty' and force you to kneel every time I enter a room."

"Never mind…L-2."

"I am glad that we are agreed." The chirpy waitress brought them their food, and he got to the business of savoring his first meal in twenty years. Ann also ate quietly, but did so much more slowly than him and took long pauses in which she tried to sort everything out mentally. During one of those pauses, he began again, "Now, this is the problem with our situation. The Black Knights think by now that you are either dead, or that you are my ally and need to be hunted down along with me."

Ann asked, "Why would they…? Oh, because I set you free. I get it. They'll know that someone had to have gone down there and let you out, otherwise…"

"Otherwise I would still be strapped to a chair this moment, being repeatedly killed by some insane terrorists. And so, it will be very hard to convince them that you are innocent of the whole matter. They'll probably want to punish you for letting me go."

"Punish me?"

"A few years in prison, minimized because Ms. Kozuki will probably be interceding for you if I know anything about her character. But if you tell them that you let me go because your principles don't allow you to let anyone be killed, then you will definitely get a sentence."

Ann was quiet. "You're right."

He said, "That is why you need to leave your old life completely behind and go into hiding."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you need to take up a new identity. Never contact your family or friends again, get a disguise, live in another part of the country, and so forth. The fact that you can see will be an excellent disguise, actually, since they'll be on the lookout for a blind girl."

"N-no! I can't do that!"

"Why is that?"

"Because…because… because I have little brother to take care of," she said, earnestly.

"I am certain that the rest of your family is more than capable…"

"No, you don't understand. He's…he's…ummm," she bit her lip once she noticed that she was saying the forbidden word again.

"What, wench?"

"He's not really… related. Aaron's an orphan that my father took in before he died. But, my mother… Well, she…" Ann pursed her lips together very hard. "My parents divorced a long time before my father took in Aaron. My mother doesn't care about Aaron. She just calls him a gutter-rat and makes fun of him, and my sister's not really better about it. They'll just dump him off in foster care if I disappear."

The young man who called himself L-2 thought about this. "Bringing a child would be risky. Especially if your Aaron suddenly went missing at the same time you did. Then, they would have one more way to track us."

"And he wouldn't be happy to leave his home, anyway."

The young man considered this new development, and then he said, "I asked if you were willing to walk a path of solitude in order to have this power. You said that you were. Are you already trying to squeeze your way out of your promises?"

"No! It's not because I would feel lonely..."

"Or is it? Leaving him is the most practical option."

"I don't care! It's not for me, it's because my father told me to take care of him. I don't care if I feel lonely, but I am not going to break any promise to my father. You can just take Geass back if I have to do that, because I refuse."

The young man, actually an old man, sighed. He realized that he would never convince her to leave her younger brother, Aaron. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to.

After a long silence, he thought of something else. With marked irritation in his voice, he told her, "If that's how you want it, then you'll have to call the Black Knights yourself, and when they interrogate you, you'll have to give them a story convincing them of your innocence." He held his forehead, for a moment, and then said, "I have an idea. I used to have the ability to command people's absolute obedience, by looking them in the eyes and giving them the order. I do not have that power any more. However, the Black Knights do not know that, hence why they had me blindfolded."

"Okay, but what does that have to do… Oh, I see we are going to pretend that I was controlled by you?"

"Yes."

"But…" Ann furrowed her brow, "You said that you had to look people in the eye…"

"Of course, technically I wouldn't be able to use this ability on you while I was blindfolded."

"So how are you going to convince them?"

"Well, I'm not. They convince themselves. After all, Mrs. Opal witnessed me deflect bullets, didn't she? Or at least she thinks she did. If you just say you don't remember anything, and you lie well enough, then they will start to panic at the idea that I can now occasionally control minds without eye contact. They know that I have gained immortality, they believe that I have suddenly gained the power to project an invisible shield, they will notice that I have given you your vision back, and so they may very well 'realize' that my powers have developed quite a bit, perhaps even to the point that I can manipulate people without looking at them."

Ann seemed to be pondering this silently, and she asked him, "I am going to have to lie really good then."

"Not 'good,' wench. 'Well.'"

"What's the difference?"

He sighed. "'Well' is correct grammatical English. Well is an adverb, thus it modifies the verb 'lie.' 'Good' is and adjective, and should only modify nouns. Thus, you do not use 'Good to describe any action."

Ann stared at him blankly. "So, we are going to talk about what story I give the Black Knights after we finish eating?"

"No."

"No?"

"First, you must learn a few things about the alphabet."

* * *

><p>Kallen Kozuki had a headache.<p>

"So, one of our security guards informed the terrorists of this facility?" she asked, trying to ascertain if the hasty, babbling explanations she had heard over the phone were correct or if she had only been half-hallucinating when she had been awakened at 1:00 in the morning by Opal's phone call.

"Yes, Mrs. Kozuki," Mrs. Opal said, defeatedly.

"And they killed all of the guards, but took you and Mr. Lloyd hostage for a short while, trying to question you?"

"That is indeed correct," Lloyd Asplund corroborated.

"And Ann, half-blind though she is, somehow managed to elude them while you two could not?"

"…Yes…" admitted Mrs. Opal. Lloyd looked rather amused at the humiliation on Opal's face.

"And while one of the terrorists was questioning you two outside at gunpoint, suddenly Lelouch steps out with Ann at gunpoint," it was not a question this time.

"Yes."

"And the terrorist shot at his head… and somehow the bullets deflected away from Lelouch and Ann."

"Yes."

Kallen felt her headache get worse. "And then, after the terrorist dropped his gun, Lelouch knocked all of you out cold."

"Yes."

"I am surprised you're not dead. I thought he would be furious enough at his treatment that when he escaped, _if_ he escaped, he would kill everyone in the facility. Anyway, what happened when you woke up?"

"All of the terrorists had escaped, and my satellite cell phone was gone. And it can't be tracked, so we can't find either the terrorists or the Demon Emperor and Ann that way."

Kallen massaged her forehead. "I don't understand. How did Lelouch get out of his cell in the first place?"

"I have no idea," Mrs. Opal said, "There was no way he could escape on his own; someone had to let him out. It was either Ann or the terrorists, and I doubt the terrorists would have set the Demon free since they came to kill him. Ann must have done it." Opal shook her head, "But I never would have expected it from the girl. I didn't think that she could be one of his followers."

"She's not," Kallen snapped at the woman. "She's a complete pacifist. The Demon Emperor probably gave her nightmares as a child."

"How do you know she wasn't pretending?"

"At any rate, the terrorists may have let him go on accident. They may have taken off the blindfold, trying to make sure that he was who they were looking for, and then fallen under the influence of his Geass. Then, he might have sealed them in with that bomb, just for good measure, and taken Ann hostage when he saw her trying to escape. Besides, Ann couldn't have gotten the keys; she didn't even know where they were! And since she's all but blind, there's no way she could have found the place you hid them, unless of course one of you gave them to her."

"Indeed. It is a great mystery," Lloyd said with the slightest of smirks.

"But why would he take Ann away? Why wouldn't he just knock her out and leaver her with the rest of us?"

Kallen felt her stomach twist a little. "He must have thought of some way to use her. I don't know. Maybe he is questioning her right now." No, she told herself. She didn't need to worry about Ann's safety. Lelouch wouldn't go so far… besides, she was almost certain that he liked her, grudgingly, for her consideration when he was imprisoned. He should be a little grateful that she gave him knowledge of the outside world, right? Kallen's stomach twisted further at the idea that he and Ann might have teamed up. "Or maybe he plans to use her as some sort of bait. Maybe he has Geassed her to do something..."

Kallen leftt the meeting extremely uneasy on many levels. The implications of this were unsettling, especially since this now meant hunting down her first love, whom she suspected deserved to be free in the first place, and locking him up again. If Ann was indeed on his side now, then she would have no choice but to turn the girl over to the authorities, which would be like sending a lamb to the slaughter. She knew that Ann would not last long in prison...

Later that day, Kallen heard her cell phone ring. She looked at it and paled. It was Opal's phone.

* * *

><p>Ann stood back at the crossroads that she had traveled with her ageless companion the day before. He had persuaded someone to give her a lift there, and told her to call Mrs. Kozuki from Opal's phone right there, because then they would have no way of knowing which road her companion had taken.<p>

At the last minute, when he was going over the story she would tell the Black Knights, he had advised her that it would never work: there were too many things that could go wrong. She had decided to do it anyway. His last word had been to tell her to go alone, as the Black Knights would be there sooner than she would expect and that he would do her no god by hanging around. She had hoped that he would be able to advise her while she was talking, but it seems like it would not work that way.

"Mrs. K-Kozuki?" she asked, the stutter in her voice resurfacing. She felt very nervous, especially since she thought she heard something behind her. She checked behind her: nothing.

"Ann?" asked Kallen, slightly worried, "Is that you?"

"Y-yes! Ms. Kozuki, I…" Ann gulped, realizing that she would have to lie to one of the people she trusted most.

"Are you okay?"

"I-I don't know what's going on…what happened…"

"Where's Lelouch?"

"Who?"

Kallen said, "The Demon Emperor."

Ann heard a twig snap somewhere. Frightened, she whirled her head to where the sound was, but no one was there. She decided that it must have been an animal. "I d-don't know who you mean."

"The prisoner."

"Oh! R-right… he's…I don't know…"

"Ann, what's happened?"

"I don't know where I am. Everything's really weird now… I-I...I can see, Mrs. Kozuki! I can…really see…and I…don't know… I'm at this c-crossroads that is right down the road from th-the facility"

"Ann, that's... Did he restore your sight What do you remember?"

"I-" but suddenly Ann felt cold metal stuck to her throat, and she gulped. So those sounds she had heard were not from an animal. "Help," she managed, weakly.

* * *

><p>Kallen said, "What, Ann? What's wrong? "<p>

There was a long silence. Kallen strained her ear and heard the sound of a a thud, as though the phone had just been dropped.

"Ann? Ann? Are you there? Can you speak? Hello? Ann!"

* * *

><p>Ann's companion, L-2 of the Demon Emperor, had said a lot about different things that could go wrong with their plan. For example, if Ann simply couldn't act well enough to pull it off, or if they didn't care whether or not she was innocent, or if she slipped up and gave it all away. However, even he hadn't anticipated that the terrorists would also be searching the nearby areas, that one would just happen to be walking around the same crossroads, that he would recognize her as the girl who had run away with the Demon Emperor, and that he would capture her immediately before the Black Knights could take her into custody.<p>

She felt the cold metal clasp over her hands and a hood pulled over her head, rudely robbing her of the sight she already felt was precious. Her first thought was that she now felt more sorry for the Demon Emperor now that she knew exactly how it felt to be chained up.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, there it is. Not perfect, but at least I got the plot moving. I feel it may have been a little redundant, as the characters mull over the events of what happened in the previous chapters. I may have more trouble updating from here on out, because school has started again; however, I will still try to update within a week.<strong>

**I have worked harder on this chapter than either of the previous ones, because there were more problems to deal with. I know that it might be annoying that I switch from Lelouch's point of view for the majority of this chapter, but I am pretty certain that he will again be center stage in the next chapter.**

**My Latin is rusty, please correct me if I got something wrong in that one little bit where Lelouch speaks in Latin to taunt Ann.**

**Please review, and tell me any of your thoughts about this story. I particularly would like honest criticism, if there is something wrong.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry this took so long to upload. For some reason, each chapter is more challenging than the last. I feel that this chapter may have a lot of plot holes and inconsistencies, so feel free to point those out. I will probably edit this chapter later.**

**Thank you, for everyone who has kept patience with my procrastination. I will try to upload faster next time, but I have a habit of breaking promises when it comes to when I update, so I will not bother to make a promise this time. Sorry.**

**Oh, and I don't own Code Geass. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4:<strong>

Ann found herself roughly handcuffed to a chair, a hood pulled over her face. After a bit of silence the hood was removed from her head, forcing her to stare in some light directed into her face. It was painful; her eyes were barely used to seeing and they were now being overloaded with this streaming brightness. She closed her eyes and tried to turn her head away.

"Now, girl, there are a few questions that you will answer, and you will answer them quickly and honestly," said a serious, hostile voice.

"Ummm…" She hesitated, feeling her heart pound in her chest.

"Where is the Demon?"

For the first time in her life, Ann found herself thinking frantically. What should she say? She should say the exact same thing that she would say to the Black Knights, of course. But the terrorists didn't know about the thing that once allowed her companion to give absolute orders, and so they wouldn't believe her.

She gulped. Still, it was worth a try. "Ummm, I-I d-d-don't know what yo-you're t-t-talking ab-about. Where's…wh-who?"

She felt someone strike her face.

"That _hurts," _she whimpered pathetically.

"You know who I mean, girl!" The man snapped with the same hostility. "Where is Demon Emperor Lelouch?"

She thought. What should she say to convince them that she didn't know? Despairingly, only one thought ran through her mind: L-2 would know what to say. She was supposed to not know that the prisoner was the Demon Emperor so…

"The D-Demon Emperor? B-but is-isn't h-h-he dead?"

She was struck again.

"Don't play innocent. We know you know where he is. You, and all of the Black Knights, are his allies!"

But there was _something _about the voice that was questioning her. It was… familiar? Yes, yes! She had heard it somewhere before. But she had to answer his question. "Umm, I-I'm not one of the B-Black Knights." She heard someone start towards her and she winced, expecting someone to hit her again. Instead, she just heard a bitter, sarcastic chuckle.

"I-I'm r-really not anything… I was just a clean-up g-girl they hired… I d-d-on't kn-know anything…" she insisted.

"Stop playing dumb!"

Her eyes flashed open, and widened. She remembered where his voice was from. Her heart rate dropped, and her body relaxed considerably. "I know you."

"What?"

"Alfred. Alfred Fitzwilliam from the Nunnally vi Brittannia School for the Blind. I remember. You were very special, because your hearing was so good, even though you were blind, you could tell where objects were in a room by making a clicking noise and listening to how the sound bounced off the wall… or something like that. I-"

She was cut off after she felt a succession of blows to her face. She gasped a little, and felt some liquid trickle down her face. Blood? The man asked in a deep, growling voice, "How do you know that?"

"I just went to that school. I remember you were the only kid in the school who could learn martial arts and fight against seeing kids."

A hand grabbed her messy hair and slammed her face on the table in front of her. "Who. The. Hell. Are you?" Alfred asked through gritted teeth.

"Ummm, you wouldn't remember me… I'm just Ann."

Silence.

"Uhh, yeah I thought you wouldn't remember."

"Ann who?"

"Ummm…" she was about to blurt it out, when suddenly her heart froze at a sudden thought: she shouldn't give out her full name. Then, how should she respond? "Ann who you used to beat up?" she tried.

"Well, then, Ann-who-I-beat-up. Things don't change. I will continue to beat you to a bloody pulp until you tell me where the hell the Demon is!"

Ann discovered, to her surprise, that most of her fear was gone. She still winced a little when she realized that she was going to be hit more, but it was _Alfred. _She had been taken his punches her first day of school, when she saw him bullying another kid. She had taken his blows on a few different occasions. And if there was one thing she knew….

"Alfred," she said quietly and with unassuming resoluteness, "I think that… I can take more of your punches than you can give out."

Her sudden calm silenced her interrogator.

"And besides," she added, remembering the lie that she was supposed to keep up, "I really don't know anything about what you're talking about."

"You really think that I am going to buy that? You...!" And she felt his knuckles against her face again. But his power was gone. Now that she knew who he was, she was not afraid. "You know where he is, and you are going to tell me."

She was silent. Then, Alfred proceeded to beat her, but ten times more powerfully than before, and with some sort of metal object. She cried out in pain, but clenched her fists. She felt more blood run down her face.

"Stop! Stop this now!" rang out a commanding voice.

Ann blinked her eyes open. There was the sound of a door swinging, "I said to stop this barbarianism, now," said the voice, though now it had lost its angry tone and settled into a dangerously smooth voice, that had an almost robotic quality to it.

Alfred growled.

"Come now, _Alfred_," The man rolled the name out like it was unfamiliar to him, "Are you really so vicious that you would treat a young girl this way? And a girl you grew up with? Tsk, tsk, I _told _you to get the voice disguiser before interrogating."

"Damn you," Alfred said.

"Now," the new voice said firmly. Ann heard someone stomp angrily out of the room, and she tried to peek open her eyes to see what was going on. Still the light was blinding her, and she could see anything, so she shut her eyes again. The voice continued, "Both of you leave with him. I'll be able to handle her by myself. Oh, and you, get me something to clean up her face."

Ann heard two more people walk out, probably others who were in the room but had not said anything. Then, the light staring her directly in the face was shut off, and the light in the room was turned on. After steadying her dizzy vision, she blinked, and found herself able to look around the room. It was a small, blank room with no windows. She had no way of telling where she actually was, but her brain was not trying to figure it out. She was too relieved to know that she was not going to be tortured…yet. There was only one man in the room now: a tall, lanky looking man whose mask did not conceal the calm expression in his eyes, calm to point of being laconic and bored. There was an attachment that covered his mouth, apparently some sort of voice disguiser.

Then, another masked person came in with a cloth, handed it to the tall man, and hurried out, shutting the door.

* * *

><p>The former Demon Emperor was surprised to realize that Ann had been taken prisoner.<p>

What bothered him for a little while was_ how_ he knew. A haze of unreality had swept over him for a moment; he became unaware of his environment for a second. Then, he suddenly felt her fear, saw her with a hood over her face, and realized what he was seeing. Then, the sensation passed, only for him to be vaguely aware of her consciousness, like a buzzing around his ear.

The terrorists must have found her. How? Were they searching the entire area? He had thought that they would only search the city, as that was where he had put the misdirected trail. Had they just happened to find her at the crossroads?

This was not good. The terrorists would not be as humane and fair as the Black Knights, and might end up forcing more information out of Ann than either companion could afford. They might damage her, or even kill her if she played innocuous and they decided she couldn't tell them anything worthwhile.

She had Geass to protect her, he thought. But then that thought made him even more worried. If she used her shielding abilities when they were about to hurt her, then they would find out about Geass. If they learned about Geass, and learned that Ann had it then… who knew what else they could figure out. The secrecy of Zero Requiem could be uncovered. He could not, would not allow that. He had to find her and save her, and save her fast.

Another thought struck him. How could he sense this? He remembered that C.C. could sense Geass wielders and their whereabouts. Since he was a Code Bearer, then he ought to be able to do the same, but how? He decided to clear his mind, and see if he could feel it again.

He did: Ann's consciousness brushed against his own. He might be able to follow it to her location. He didn't have much of a choice at this point.

He left his hotel room with all of his possessions. In the lobby, he saw someone's coat hanging on a chair while that person blabbered in the other room. He swept his eyes to see if anyone was watching, or if any security cameras were installed: there were none, so he took it. Putting it on, he felt keys in the pocket of the jacket and smirked to himself. Car-theft had not been high on his previous list of crimes, but now he had stolen a car twice within 72 hours. He never thought it would be so easy. He walked out of the hotel with the coat, pulled out the keys, and proceeded to figure out which car they belonged to. It wasn't hard: soon, he was driving out of town.

Going through the road, he stopped at the crossroads where Ann was supposed to make her call the day before. He saw a sat phone lying on the grass, and he got out of his car to pick it up.

* * *

><p>The young Code Bearer followed what he believed was Ann's consciousness, and found himself driving into the city where he had led the misdirected trail. He finally arrived at an abandoned apartment in the outskirts of the town. He felt Ann's consciousness even stronger there. She was being held here, he was almost certain.<p>

Now, what to do about it?

He sighed. He could call the police and tell them where Ann was. Kallen would probably be over there soon enough. Or he could find a way to save her himself.

If he saved her himself, then the Black Knights would be suspicious about how she escaped the terrorists. They would probably figure out that he had helped her. If they figured out _that, _then they would naturally realize that Ann was his accomplice and would pursue her like they were pursuing him. He could not have that.

On the other hand, if he called the police and they came, then there was the possibility that they would be too inefficient to stop the terrorists, unless the Black Knights came themselves. He wasn't exactly sure how efficient the police were nowadays, although Ann had indicated the Black Knights had become a sort of higher police.

He decided. He would call the police, but organize a back-up plan in case that failed.

He called the police number on his phone (the emergency number was up on a huge billboard, thankfully, as it had changed in the past twenty years.) He called them and told the lady answering that he had just witnessed what he thought was the kidnapping of a young girl.

"A kidnapping, you say?" the lady asked.

"That's right," he said in his best "worried high-school student" voice.

"Hold on, let me transfer you."

"What?" but before he could ask why, he heard a click and another voice came on.

"Hello? You called about a kidnapping?"

The young man's body froze, and he nearly dropped the phone. That voice… no, it couldn't be…

"I am Kallen Kozuki of the Black Knights, and have requested that any information about kidnappings in this area be given to me directly. What exactly did you see?"

He gulped. Her voice was… different. Older, obviously, but still so similar, still with that fierceness and spark.

"I-" he began, only to have him choke on the sudden dryness of his throat. He wanted to talk to her, to ask her how everything had been. True, he had heard indirectly from Ann, but he wanted… he wanted to get her angry again, he wanted to hear her get ticked off, and smirk as she tried to disentangle the mess he had made of her emotions and thoughts… like he used to.

Why did all of those memories have to come up now? He shoved them down.

"Hello? Is everything okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said, his voice now under control, "I saw a girl with brown hair talking on a phone by the crossroads, and then this masked guy came and put a gun to her head. Then, he forced her into a car and drove off. I managed to follow the kidnappers, and they are at this abandoned apartment…and they have guns…I-I don't know what I was thinking," the stammer was easier to fake than he had thought. Perhaps the time with Ann had given him the perfect imitation study? "I just called, and I don't know what to do." he was quiet.

He waited on the line, wondering if his little ruse would fool Kallen. If she saw through him and guessed his identity, then he would just laugh at her, boldly come out with his identity, and re-affirm what he had said, then disappear from the area. If she didn't, then he could proceed as planned.

"I understand. It's okay. I'm one of the Black Knights, and this case is very important to us," she told him.

He was actually a little disappointed that she didn't see through his ruse. Disappointed, he asked himself, why? As though she had ever really known him. She had despised him when she thought him to be a Britannian high school student, revered him with something like hero worship when he was Zero, abandoned him when she found out Zero was Lelouch, and had every reason in the world to hate him when he became the Demon Emperor.

They could never reach an understanding. He wished that they could reach such an understanding, but considering what he was, it was impossible. And yet, he missed her.

"Now can you tell me the address of the place?" asked Kallen.

He told her.

"Now, leave and get somewhere safe," Kallen ordered him.

He said, "All right, ma'am," and hung up. Then, to himself, with the same bitter smile stabbing his face like a dagger, he whispered under his breath, "Q-1."

Jerking himself away from the nostalgia, he decided to form at the back-up plan in case anything went wrong. What could go wrong? Ann could begin to break down under whatever interrogation method they were using, for one. She was only a seventeen year old girl, and even if she was determined not to let them know anything, she would probably give in. Her will might not even need to break, with a combination of keen questioning and delirium, who knew what she might let slip, even if she hadn't meant it to.

He wanted to be able to listen to whatever was going on in there, but there was no way…unless he could use his Code somehow to listen in. Again, he cleared his mind, trying to reach out to Ann's consciousness.

He felt fear and panic again, but this time there was an image of a masked man holding a…Refrain gun? And Refrain could be used as truth serum.

Now was not the time to hesitate: he had to stop the interrogation _now, _before Ann revealed anything under the influence of Refrain.

* * *

><p>"I must apologize for the behavior of those who have now left the room," the masked man said, pulling up a chair and sitting across from her at the table in front of her." His voice was very smooth, very soothing. Ann felt her body relax at his tone, but then winced as he came forward. She was surprised when he only wiped her face off with the cloth he had.<p>

"You see, that man who was just questioning you has…a sort of stubborn idea that I am his rival and so he felt that he must get the information out of you first to impress his superiors. Again, I must apologize. I assure you that nothing will be done to you that is permanently damaging."

Permanently…?

"Now, I believe that your name is Ann."

Ann looked at him, uncomprehendingly.

"And you were speaking to Kallen Kozuki of the Black Knights on the phone?"

"Oh, s-so that was you…?"

"My comrades, rather. I apologize that you were dragged so harshly. I didn't have a supply of my usual drugs to knock people out."

"Th-there was only one of y-you?"

"Actually, there were three of us, but I instigated it. You see, everyone else was ridiculously certain that the Demon Emperor was in the city, simply because a car from the facility had gone there. But I was frustrated. I thought that if he was really the Demon Emperor, he would have left a false trail. I would have, at any rate, and so I decided to go and check it out, with a few acquaintances to help in case things I needed them. I went back to the cross roads, trying to figure out exactly what he would have done, but then I saw you talking on the phone, and I recognize you from the facility. Hence, my allies and I kidnapped you."

Ann blinked.

"Now, what did the man in here previously ask you?"

"Ummm, he asked where the Demon Emperor was."

The masked man rolled his eyes. "Of course he would, that idiot. I am sorry that he bothered you over such a trivial matter. Anyone with a brain should be able to figure it out."

"F-figure it ou-out?"

"Yes. Obviously he is now in that little town in the opposite direction of the city."

Ann gasped. He knew. He knew! They were going to capture her companion; no, they might be on their way at that very minute, might have already found him! But then, she told herself that L-2 was very smart, and would probably get away.

She was distracted from her thoughts by the masked man's satisfied chuckling. She jumped within her restraints a little bit. He said, "You know, I actually had no idea if he was actually in that village. I just threw that out casually to see how you reacted. Well, now I know that he is there. I'll have to tell my superiors to send people there immediately to catch him."

Ann was dizzy. She had just given it away? She felt awful. She almost wished that Alfred was back there, punching her. At least she could handle that. This man was able to get information out of her without even touching her. She was afraid.

"Ann, you are obviously not used to interrogations. I can read you like an open book. You're not a soldier, not one of the Black Knights. What exactly is someone like you doing caught up in this mess?"

"I-I just c-c-clean at the f-f-facilit-t-ty."

"Your stammer is getting worse. Don't worry. I will make sure that, as I said, nothing permanently damaging happens to you. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?"

She didn't like how he used "permanently." She shook her head.

"What connects a poor innocent like yourself to the bloody Demon?" he asked.

"Wh-what? I d-d-don't kn-know what you're t-talking about."

"Well, the premise of this organization is that Zero and the Black Knights are taking orders from the Demon Emperor, who is still controlling the world. However, after what happened today, I must highly doubt that the Black Knights are working with him at all. It seems they were imprisoning him, even. However, there is someone working with the Demon: you."

"N-no…I-I…"

"If you are not, then please explain why he jumped in front of bullets _twice _to save your life."

She had nothing to say.

"I witnessed him do that myself. I was quite shocked that he would have such consideration. Also, that suddenly my bullets were bouncing off of nothingness and that he somehow survived those shots was a surprise as well. But my question to you right now is _why _you bothered to release him from the Black Knights and why he seemed to care enough about you to take bullets. I presume that he somehow knew he was going to survive it, but it still must have been painful."

Ann tried to stutter out another lie, but it was impossible.

"I have this crazy idea that you might have a personal connection with him that made you do this. Looking at you, I would say you are about…eighteen? Maybe twenty, if you are older than you look? Technically, you could be his daughter."

Ann spluttered, trying to say something in response to this; unfortunately, all that came out was an unintelligible string of stammering.

"This still would explain why you decided to free him, an action that would seem completely irrational otherwise. It would not explain why he still has the appearance of a young man himself. I am still pondering this. My friend outside said he heard the Demon claim he was immortal. This interests me very much. I will also question you about that."

"I-I don't kn-know what you're talking about!" she summoned up the last bit of her mental strength, which she realized had been too easily exhausted during her two interrogations. "The Demon Emperor is dead! The prisoner who cell I cleaned was not him! And I did not free him!"

"You must have. You were the only one with the opportunity."

"N-no!"

"I had a feeling that you would deny these things even in the face of logical proof. Now, let me tell you that you are going to be honest from here on out."

Ann felt like a cold spike went through her guts. The man took put a wooden case on the table. He showed the contents to her: there were two small capsules with a clear liquid in them, and what looked to be some sort of gun. The cold feeling was overwhelming her now.

"This is…do you know what Refrain is?"

"Y-yes."

"But you have never seen what an injector of it looks like before, from the look in your eyes. Well, this is it. Refrain is rare nowadays, but I was able to get a hold of it. Should I explain why I am about to use this?"

Ann was too busy trying to calm the thumping of her heart to respond.

"You see," he continued, "Refrain was originally designed to take one back to pleasant experiences in the past, providing a form of escape for suffering Japanese people oppressed by Britannian rule. However, it was also used as truth serum."

She froze.

"A very clumsy, inefficient truth serum, that is. I tested original Refrain, and the subject answered a few questions with absolute honesty, but then stopped answering questions altogether and starting mumbling something about his mother. I found then that Refrain was inefficient because after a minute or so it caused its victim to stop comprehending the questions."

She felt her heart rate sky-rocket.

"So, I managed to develop a stronger brand of Refrain, which will allow the subject to answer questions for a longer period of time before being overcome by memories and hallucinations. This is what is going to ensure that you answer all of my questions." The masked man began to load the Refrain gun, as he carefully checked to make sure everything was in order.

She wondered, above the beating of her heart, if he was making it up. She had heard about Refrain, but had never heard about it being used as a truth serum.

"I felt that this is the best solution. You will not need to be hurt physically, my superiors will get the truth, and you don't even need to feel guilty about it. Now, do you remember that I said I would not do anything permanently damaging? Well, I feel that I must warn you that Refrain has some serious side effects. It is a highly addictive substance, and so when you wake up after this session you will probably have a strong compulsion to go find more. Because this strain is stronger than normal Refrain, it may cause near-dependency on the first use. It may not, but I have not tested this strain yet."

Ann began struggling in her chair, "Why are you telling me this?"

"I am warning you. When we release you, if I can persuade my fellows into it, you need to seek a Rehabilitation Clinic immediately. And don't try to get more. Doing drugs will ruin your life. More than three uses of this will cause severe brain damage. Regular usage is capable of rendering the person completely invalid, even to the point where they can no longer speak to people. I would prefer if this fate did not befall anyone."

"Then don't do it!" she screamed with all of the air in her lungs. Omigod, omigod, omigod, she thought. I won't be able to resist, I'll tell him everything…

No, wait! She could use her shield! Yes, she had to, or she would end up telling everything. "I won't let you!" and the Geass sigil activated in her eye.

The masked man saw it and started back. "What…is that?"

Ann looked around: the shield around her seemed every bit as potent as when she had deflected bullets in the facility, except she realized that there was a problem.

The masked man was already within the range of the shield.

So…it won't work if the person is… too close?

She was doomed.

"Well, what could that be in your eye? Something that was supposed to stop me? Hmm, another interesting thing to ask about when I have this Refrain-"

"NO! NO, NO, NO!" she could not allow that. She had just revealed her powers to him, and at the same had failed to prevent him from using the drug on her. She had lost. She was completely and utterly defeated. No, she couldn't allow herself to be defeated this way; that drug could cost her life, sanity…she might never be able to talk to Aaron again.

She focused all her concentration: the shield rapidly expanded, the force of it slamming against the walls and cracking them. The masked man looked around in confusion. "What are you…?"

She could change the size of the shield! But she didn't need to make it bigger, it had to be smaller, smaller so that she could shut him out of its range and keep herself protected. She clenched her fists hard and focused on drawing in her energy. But the shield drew in much more slowly than it had expanded.

The man was watching her in fascination, giving her some time to draw the shield in. She got it down to its original size. But then, it stopped drawing in. Her head felt like it was about to split from concentration, but it still would not draw in… no, wait! It came in about an inch.

But it was too late. The man had come up close to her, had placed the injector right against her arm. Defeatedly, she let the shield go, and the sigil disappeared from her eye.

Powerlessness _hurt. _Badly.

"Please don't!" she cried, looking directly up into his eyes, "I'll tell you anything you want to hear!" this was a lie, but she had a feeling that it was credible enough, "Please, please, please…you can't…"

Her vulnerability made the man stop for a moment. For a moment he looked uncertain and regretful, but he said, "No. I am truly sorry, but I need the truth." He put his finger on the trigger, "You need not feel any pain, the experience will likely be quite pleasant. And you don't need to feel any guilt about what you say. The guilt belongs to me. You see, it is not a matter of will power."

She felt the needle go through her veins.

"I must know what you are hiding…"

_Aaron…_

* * *

><p>Ann struggled against the drug, but soon the terrorist noticed her eyes become hazy and her hands relax. Her breathing also changed from terrified and quick to slow and steady. He recognized this state of Refrain. Before the hallucinations started, the subject entered a sort of blank state, where they forgot their current circumstance and would answer all questions truthfully. He asked her, "Ann?"<p>

She didn't look at him, "Dad? Is that you?"

"No. Who is your Dad, Ann?"

"My…Dad?"

"Yes."

"He's…he's the best person in the whole wide world."

"Of course, Ann," he told her. He decided to be more direct. "Is the Demon your father?"

"Dad is not a demon."

Hmm, he hadn't considered this. She didn't quite understand the significance of his questions. He would have to word them very carefully. "Why did you free Lelouch vi Britannia, the 99th Emperor?"

"Why…did…I…?"

"Free the Demon Emperor."

"No one is a Demon. Everyone has good in them, Aaron."

He asked, "Why did you free the prisoner of the Black Knights?"

"I… "

"Tell me why you freed him."

"I had to." She was looking at him with pained innocence.

"What do you mean you had to?" he asked, genuinely puzzled.

"I…had to. I had to."

Now she sounded like a broken doll, he thought to himself. "Why?"

"I had to."

"Were you forced?"

"Hmm…I had no other choice. I really didn't. I know Mrs. Kozuki will be upset with me, but I…had to."

"But why?"

"It's…hard to explain…" she said, "No one really understands. It's because…Dad…I promised…"

"Yes? Yes?" What was this about her father? Was she really the daughter of the Demon? She didn't look like him, and his theorizing about that earlier had just been wild guessing. He hadn't expected it to be true.

He noticed a complete change in her expression "Aaron."

"Who?"

She burst into a sweet, caring look, "Is Aaron alright?

"Yes, Ann," he said quickly. She was drifting already. He needed to ask the more important questions, "Is the Demon Emperor immortal?"

"Hmm? Well, you needn't worry about him dying." She laughed.

"I don't need to worry about him dying?"

Ann nodded.

He asked, "Ann, what was that thing you were doing earlier?"

"Hmm?"

"When your eye turned red and you smashed the walls."

"Oh that? Well, I kinda have magic powers."

"What do you mean by magic?"

Ann looked at him, "It's called Ge-" but she was interrupted by a crash from behind the terrorist.

"This interrogation ends here."

The terrorist flung around, and found himself staring into two smirking amethyst eyes.

"The Demon…"

"Hello!" Ann said cheerily.

The terrorist took a few steps back. It was indeed the Demon Emperor, Lelouch vi Britannia, whom he and his fellow terrorists had been hunting. He was exactly the same as he had been twenty years ago, albeit thinner, paler and a bit worn from years of captivity. "But how…?"

"When you people pick a hideout next time, you might consider picking something a bit more secure. Something that can't be infiltrated by crawling through the air vents," the Demon told him.

The terrorist blinked. "You crawled through the air vents?"

"Yes."

"The great, mighty, and evil Demon Emperor, conqueror of the world, crawled through some dirty air vents?"

The Demon stared at him. Then the terrorist realized to himself: oh shit, I just made a sarcastic comment to the most dangerous person in the entire world.

"You are remarkably calm considering the situation. Now, you will let the wench go," the Demon Emperor told him, "Immediately."

The terrorist wondered how he should react to the situation. Should he just try to punch the Emperor out? He had never been the most physical of people… but it seemed like it had come down to that. He could always threaten him, of course…

"I am afraid I can't do that, your-former-majesty," he told the Demon, gripping his Refrain gun, "Besides, I doubt that you will be able to best me physically after twenty years in prison. And even when you were ruler of the world, I doubt you would have been able to get through five push-ups."

Sarcasm was a bad habit for him, the terrorist realized. He had trouble canning it even in the worst of situations. Everything always came out more cynical than he intended it too. Right now, he felt like slapping himself.

But to his surprise, the Demon Emperor only dropped the stern countenance and smirked, "I won't have to do push-ups to solve this problem." And then, with a flamboyant gesture he raised up his hand to reveal a glowing red mark.

The terrorist was soon overcome by hallucinations.

The young Demon watched as the terrorist fell on the floor, writhing silently until he stopped moving, having lost consciousness from the trauma. He wasn't exactly sure what he had shown the man, but he was certain that it was enough to keep him out of the way for a while.

"Well, wench, it seems That I have a bit of a dilemma. If I let you go now, then when the Black Knights come, they will realize what I have done and probably lock you up. However, I couldn't let you spill out the secret of Geass when you were on Refrain. Now that your interrogator is unconscious, I am going to have to fabricate some fake reason that knocked him out without it looking like the Demon Emperor came in and saved you."

Ann only said, "Hmmmm."

"Well, now that I have stopped you from revealing everything about Geass, I now have to escape in a way that makes it clear that I was never here. However, this man here saw me, so… Well, at any rate, I think I'll get you out of here now."

"You hurt him," Ann said, looking at the man on the floor.

"Yes, wench, now I suppose that I'll-"but then suddenly he heard a crash outside.

"THE BLACK KNIGHTS ARE HERE!" called a voice from behind the door.

The Demon Emperor cursed under his breath. "Well, wench, congratulations. You will have managed to do the impossible and slip out of your handcuffs, turn Refrain against your captor, and make him fall unconscious." He took the Refrain bottle and shot some of it into the terrorist's arm, "They find him with the needle in his arm and assume that you managed to incapacitate him."

"Huhhhhhhh?" asked Ann.

"You see, I will loosen the handcuffs enough so that it seems like the terrorists didn't tighten them properly and you slipped out (you do have very skinny wrists.) As you will probably have no memory of this incident, when the Black Knights question you, you will not be able to lie to them. They will find this terrorist with Refrain in his arm, you standing over him with no memory, and hopefully" He took the key from the unconscious terrorist's belt and loosened Ann's shackles, allowing her hands to slip free. She stood up, and stumbled a little bit, still under the influence. "Granted, this is not my best escape plan ever, but you forced me into this situation, wench."

As Ann stumbled forward, he continued, "Now, I will make my convenient escape by…"

"Die, you monster!" the terrorist on the screamed as he leapt up and hurled himself at the Demon Emperor. In the briefest moment as this was happening, the Code Bearer realized that this particular terrorist had (somewhat) recovered from whatever hallucination he had experienced. Also, before the terrorist managed to attack him, he held out his hand again, activated his Code, and sent the man to the floor again, this time focusing on revving up the intensity.

The man dropped to his knees, and then tried to stand up again, so he reactivate the Code and this time the man fell to the floor and began screaming.

Well, that should be sufficient to stop the man from starting up again. Now, all he had to do was stop the Code and… Wait…

_He couldn't stop it. _He tried to pull his hand away, but found it was stuck in the outstretched position he had put it in. He gritted his teeth and tried to clench his fist, only to fail. The Code, activate so harshly, seemed to work with momentum—it could not stop immediately.

"EVERYONE, RUN! ESCAPE THROUGH ROUTE B! THE BLACK KNIGHTS ARE COMING!"

No, no no! Dammit, this couldn't happen now! He would be caught, it would be clear that he was helping Ann, they would both be imprisoned, and he would have to keep on living like a caged lab-rat.

"No," he told himself, "Not that. This has to end… I…must…control…this…I..."

Then, he heard Ann's voice behind him, "What…? What're you…? Stoppit, stoppit. You're hurting him. Don't hurt people like that. Stop-!" and he felt her grab his arm.

"No, wench! Get… back…"

But it was too late. Like the fable of the Golden Goose, Ann was suddenly unable to move as well. And now, the negative power the Code Bearer had sent against the terrorist rebounded back against him tenfold.

His vision blurred, and he saw rotting corpses walking forward. They were Euphie, Rolo, Shirley… All of the people he had lost. And again, he was shooting Euphemia, again he was holding the bleeding Shirley in his arms, again he saw C.C.'s weeping face, again he saw the bodies of thousands massacred at the SAZ, again Kallen looked at him with that accusing face.

And then Suzaku's voice was drilling through his brain: "Your very existence was a mistake! You need to be erased from the face of the earth!"

His existence was… was… That's right, he needed to end it all, didn't he? That's why he had contracted Ann, right? He needed to work toward his demise.

His existence was a mistake. His existence was a mistake. His existence was a mistake.

And then, _her _voice: "Big Brother, you are the Devil!" And she was sobbing, "How could you?"

_Nunnally._

"No, I won't…let this…beat me…" he said through gritted teeth, "I…have to… escape… I… _will control this!"_

And he broke free, staggered, and still managed to stand tall. Ann collapsed to the floor with a wild look in her eyes, and the terrorist gasped, completely numb on the floor.

The Black Knights were coming. But now, re-affirmed in his purpose, he had a plan.

* * *

><p>Kallen was surprised that one of the terrorists charged directly at her, screaming something incomprehensible. She and her fellow Black Knights riddled him with bullets, and he fell in a gutter.<p>

She searched the building, and found Ann trapped in a room, staring blankly at the ceiling with the most emotionally overwhelmed look she had ever seen on a person's face.

"Ann…? Are you alright?"

"Lu…lu…?" Ann asked, in a dazed voice. Then she said, equally dazed, "Euph…ie… Aaron… Aaron…"

"She's been given Refrain. Look at her face; they must've used it to interrogate her," said one of the Knights.

Kallen's face twisted in pity, as memories of her mother on that drug came back to her. "Come on, we need to get her to a clinic, fast."

One detail bothered Kallen later. She didn't bother to check for the body of the man who had charged out at her. Somehow, no one reported finding it later. She thought that this was odd, but wasn't exactly sure how to deal with it. After all, the man was definitely dead: he had been shot through the heart. It's not like he could have survived that.

At any rate, after Ann had been set up at the clinic, Kallen allowed herself a long sigh. This chase for Lelouch was certainly not over yet.

* * *

><p><strong>Again, I hope that I made this chapter logical, though I am willing to edit out any inconsistencies that reviewers will point out. This chapter was confused, because so much action happened that I am not sure if I kept it clean enough.<strong>

**To clear up a few things in case the chapter wasn't completely clear: The "terrorist" who rushes out at Kallen in the final section is actually Lelouch, figuring that if he gets shot as a terrorists, and left for dead, it will be his best chance of escaping. Alternately, the real terrorists escaped through a route unknown to Lelouch before the Black Knights showed up (they had a plan prepare in case of such an occurence.) The terrorist who was interrogating Ann hid in the air vent while the Black Knights came in to get Ann (he didn't have the strength to actually crawl through, because he was weakened from both Refrain and the Code's psychic attack.) That is why they did not find him along with Ann.**

**Alfred's ability is not a Geass. It is an ability that I heard about one blind kid having on the news, and I decided to use it in this story. Alfred, I believe, will appear in later chapters, as will the the other interrogator, both as lesser antagonists.**

**I know that Lelouch's plan may not be the best when he saved Ann, but he was forced to act quickly because of his vision of Refrain being used on her. She would have spilled everything she knew if he hadn't burst in at that moment. Afterwards, the clean-up was very messy. So if his plan seems stupid and crazy, please realize he was forced into a nearly impossible situation.**

**Again, thanks to those who have reviewed; please comment on any unintentional stupidity in this chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Well, I have another update. I still feel like I need to go back and edit the last chapter, as some things could have been clearer in it, but I am lazy. I prefer to write, not edit (like most people.) This chapter is not the most exciting, as it is pretty much just tying up what happens after the events of the last chapter. Hope no one is too bored**

**By the way, I don't own Code Geass. If I did own Code Geass, and was still writing fanfiction for it, I would probably be the king of all trolls.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5:<strong>

The terrorist had known it would be bad from the moment the old man had called him in to explain what they were going to do. Still, damn it all, he hadn't expected it to turn out this bad. Everything was slipping further from his control with each passing second. The day he had heard about that they were going to do, he had immediately objected. The entire plan was foolhardy, if Lelouch vi Britannia was alive and powerful. Raiding the place where he lived, which was supposed to be guarded by Black Knights,

Of course, he didn't actually have a choice whether or not he accepted this mission, but he still tried to get a few biting, sarcastic remarks with the old man. At any rate, he had focused on staying alive and getting the mission done as fast as possible. However, certain events had spiraled farther out of his control than he'd imagined, and further into horrific absurdity.

First: he raided the records in the facility. They were prison records with execution dates, each attempt marked 'failed.' Prison records for Lelouch vi Britannia. Well, then what the old man had said about vi Britannia working with the Black Knights was false; they had been containing him. Shit.

Second: vi Britannia violated everything he thought he knew about the Demon in an instant, by throwing himself in front of the girl he was with and taking bullets for her.

Third: Bullets were somehow reflecting off the two.

Fourth: vi Britannia got up again, after being shot quite a few times. Going back to the execution records marked 'failed,' did that mean that the Demon Emperor…couldn't die?

Fifth: Roan died. He had found his comrades and himself locked in the facility. He had used explosives, and that worked to get them out of the basement level. However, the doors to the facility were of a strong metal. He had warned everyone to retreat to the lowest levels of the basement in case it didn't work. Too bad Roan hadn't followed his advice.

He didn't think he'd ever forget the sight of his ally's brain blasted all over the floor.

Sixth: When he had finally gotten over the near-breakdown he had had over Roan's remains, he had realized that he had freed the most insidious mass murderer and offender of human rights in the past few decades. And that this Demon was _immortal. _In his haste to correct this error, he had kidnapped the girl, Ann. He thought it was justifiable, since the girl was clearly working with the Demon Emperor.

Seventh: The second he looked into her face, he knew she was innocent. Also, she looked _disturbingly _similar to that girl from a few years ago (although she couldn't be that girl, because that girl had been blind). Then, he realized that it would be Refrain or torture for her. When he went to get Refrain, he found out that 'Alfred' had already started the latter on her.

He had wiped off her face… again thinking to himself about how much she really looked like that girl. Identical to her, even. He wondered why a young girl was working for Lelouch vi Britannia. He searched his brain for reasons: perhaps a familial relationship between the two? Perhaps she was being coerced or blackmailed?

_Well, you aren't exactly one of the terrorists by your own choice. Maybe her situation is similar._

The sudden empathy didn't stop him from getting Refrain ready. It had to be Refrain. Refrain was the best option, the logical and humane choice in this situation. Not that that thought helped when she was screaming for him to stop, which caused the next event that spiraled out of his control.

Eighth: Her eye turned red, and suddenly the walls were smashed up.

Ninth: the Demon Emperor popped in from the air vents (_air vents!)_and caused him to suffer disturbing hallucinations… which he refused to think about. The sight of Roan's splattered remains, his dead mother, his father …. No! He would not think about it.

Tenth: He had been injected with Refrain. For a while, he had managed to shake off the visions, and tried to attack the Demon Emperor. It had been a desperate, foolhardy attack, and thus had failed.

Between the Refrain and hallucinations, he was not sure how he had managed to pull himself together long enough to pull himself up into the air vents and hide from the Black Knights. When he was safely hidden away, he watched the scene below, trying hard to make a sound.

The Demon Emperor was already gone; he forgot how he had vanished. Did he just go directly to the Black Knights? No, that wouldn't work for him, because they were seeking to apprehend him. What had he done? Vanished into thin air? He was too busy trying to suppress the hallucinations and observe what was happening to formulate a theory.

He watched the Black Knights come in and take Ann, who seemed just as distraught as he felt. She was saying something: Euphie? Aaron? She had mentioned an Aaron earlier.

He might have wondered more about it, but at that moment, the Refrain started kicking in.

* * *

><p>He had always considered re-living the worst of his memories to be the most painful of all possible tortures. Reliving them while his best memories flashed by every second was even more emotionally exhausting. For one moment—ecstatic joy; the next—horrible despair. And the wrenching part was how one morphed into another: how his mother stroking his hair suddenly became his mother bleeding out on the ground, how his father smiling proudly at him became his father catatonic in the hospital. How Roan was joking with him only to suddenly have his brains blasted on the floor.<p>

When he got a hold of himself, he felt his face throb with pain. He didn't know where he was. He had had a strange dream. The dream involved him being a terrorist, and being ordered to go assassinate the Demon Emperor. He didn't know why he would do something so stupid, since Lelouch vi Britannia had died before he was born, but it was a dream. And then, Roan had died—it had been very graphic, and also it had been his fault.

And in the dream, he had captured a girl who looked like that blind girl he had met a long time ago. He had made her scream, and her eye had turned red. He had felt really awful about it. And then the Demon Emperor had popped out of the ceiling and did something that made him feel worse.

Dreams were funny. The Demon Emperor not being dead? Him popping out of the ceiling? The blind girl not being blind and suddenly with red eyes? Himself being a terrorist?

Dreams really were funny. Maybe he should go tell Mom about it. She would smile at him like she always did. It was his eighth birthday today, wasn't it? They were going to have his birthday at the water park. And when they got home, Dad would teach him how to shoot today. He had promised to. Mom was a little worried about it, but she said she would allow it if they acted safe enough.

_No, no! _A rebellious part of his mind insisted. _This isn't real! These are only Refrain hallucinations! The hallucinations have worn off and the Refrain is taking over. Your mother is dead! Your mother is…_

And Roan would come. And Shirley Kozuki would be there too. He could make fun of her, tell her that she would make a better boy than a girl, and watch her turn red. Yeah, that was always fun. He'd have to have an escape route planned ahead of time so she didn't beat him up, but that could be arranged.

He _really _couldn't wait for Dad to teach him how to shoot. Dad said that all boys should learn to shoot from an early age, but that more importantly they should learn to not shoot unless it was absolutely necessary. Because if they didn't learn that, then they became terrorists and stuff like that.

He had promised his Dad that he would never become a terrorist.

"I'm sure you won't, son," Dad said proudly.

* * *

><p>Of course, later, he woke up still in the air vents, his head still throbbing with pain. He realized that the nightmare was reality, that his mother was still dead, that Roan was dead as well, that his father was in the hospital, that he had used Refrain on an innocent girl, and that he was keeping up a perpetual lie with Shirley. And all of those things were his fault.<p>

He wanted to kill himself. But he pushed that thought out of his mind. There were inconsistencies in the reality he knew, mistakes to correct, mysteries to solve. How was Lelouch immortal? What were the girl's 'magic powers?' Why were the Black Knights not working with the Demon, as he had previously been informed? Had the old man lied?

He had to find the answers. He was, after all, still alive and still capable of correcting the mistakes he had made in his short life.

With that encouraging thought, he tried to get up, only to knock his head on the ceiling.

* * *

><p>After they had gotten Ann to a clinic, Kallen told the other Knights to go and search the area for terrorists or Lelouch, and to inform whoever necessary of the situation. She then stayed by Ann's side, deciding not to abandon the girl. She asked the doctor if there was anything she could do. He said that just being there and talking to her would help, and so she decided to devote herself to that task.<p>

At first, Ann was limp, then suddenly she was writhing, screaming and babbling unintelligible phrases. The nurses had to restrain her, and eventually they strapped her to the bed (the bed was fitted with leather straps in case the patients struggled).

Kallen tried talking to her, telling her it would be alright. Finally, after twenty minutes of that, Ann seemed to calm down, going limp in her restraints. It was after that that she began to talk about Aaron.

"Aaron? Aaron? Don't go out on the streets. Dad wouldn't like it if you went out on the streets. Stay home with me… A swing? Well, I'll make on for you… Don't laugh, Aaron. Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I can't do things… You'll help?"

"Thank you Aaron. I'm sorry Aaron. I love you, Aaron."

Then, after a few hours of that, Ann's words became slurred, until she was just babbling again. Albeit babbling much more peacefully than she had been before. At last, she settled down. Kallen had sat there, wallowing in guilt, until Opal, Lloyd, and Ohgi (who had been informed of the situation and had come to fret and worry with them) showed up.

All four of them cast a collective glance at the girl before them, who was hooked up to an IV, her arm twitching slightly, her face purple and red with bruises and cuts, her eyes glazed and half open. Mrs. Opal, Mr. Lloyd, and Ohgi Kaname stood beside her, all staring pityingly down at the wreck of a girl before them.

"It's my fault," Kallen murmured, "I never should have asked her to work at the facility. I just thought that since nothing had happened for twenty years, she wouldn't be in danger. And, she needed work… and since she was blind, she would never figure out that Lelouch was still alive. I… never should have assumed…" but she trailed off, and clenched her fist.

"It's alright, Kallen, no one could have predicted that those terrorists would have found out so much," Ohgi comforted her.

"It's still my fault."

"No, it's the terrorists' fault," Ohgi told her, "Or Lelouch's. After all, he's the one who…"

"We can't pin everything on _him_!" she snapped at her old friend. "It's so convenient, isn't it? Whatever goes wrong, blame him! Do you realize how self-satisfying that is?"

Ohgi stared at her, shocked. "But he…"

"Yes, I know he's a terrible person, and a murderer, but he's not responsible for _everything_ that is goes wrong in the world."

There was a long silence in the room. Kallen, feeling more awkward by the second, broke it with an apology: "I'm sorry, Ohgi. I'm just tense." She sat down on the nearest chair, "You know, she has a little brother she's supporting. He's been at home, alone, for two days now without knowing what happened to his sister."

"Wonderful," Mrs. Opal said in annoyance.

"I need to go take care of him for Ann. He must be worried, scared and confused. What happened to Ann is my responsibility, so I'll deal with it."

"We have to question her, before we do anything else," Mrs. Opal said. "We still don't know how much she was working with the Emperor."

Ohgi pointed out, "She's not exactly in a condition to be questioned."

At that moment, they were interrupted by a doctor who walked in.

"Well, what's the deal?" asked Ohgi.

"Well, this girl's mind has been thoroughly screwed up," the doctor said. "The Refrain that was used on her is of a type I have never seen before. I didn't even know this thing existed until now. I am not completely sure how this will affect the probability of her being addicted, but I have noticed one thing: The hallucinations this girl has had are not all pleasant. The terrified look on her face was nothing like the expressions of the other Refrain users. And she was muttering something about death and killing people. Then, sometimes it would seem like she was having a pleasant recollection, only to become terrified again and begin shaking uncontrollably."

They were all silent.

"Thank you for the information, doctor," Kallen said, finally breaking the silence.

The doctor nodded and was about to walk out, when he said, "By the way, she's been calling for someone named Aaron. It normally helps one to recover from the side effects of Refrain if their family and friends show up for support. You should bring Aaron here and see if she becomes more responsive." He left, and the sound of the closing door clipping off all conversation.

"Well, are you planning to bring the boy here and see if the sister starts talking?" asked Mr. Lloyd.

No one liked how he was smirking when he asked the question.

"He's a twelve-year-old child. He shouldn't have to see his sister like this," Kallen pointed out indignantly.

"But we do need her to give us as much information as soon as possible, so that we can figure out where the fugitive is hiding," Mrs. Opal said.

"I agree with Mrs. Opal for once," Ohgi said. "That needs to take priority here. I'm certain that the kid can take it. Lelouch is running around out there, and who knows what kind of things he'll do now that he's free?"

Kallen's gut told her that they didn't need to worry about Lelouch causing any trouble. But, putting that feeling aside and remembering his actions in the past, she had to agree. They couldn't afford to have the Demon Emperor suddenly resurrect, and one small child's feelings did not take priority over the tyrant's recapture.

* * *

><p>She decided to call Ann's mother and sister first, and see if they would show up. Ann had given her their number once when she asked for it, just in case of an emergency. Something Ann said implied that she and her mother were not on the best of terms, but Kallen was certain that any mother would want to know that her daughter was in such a state.<p>

Pulling up the number on her cell phone, Kallen dialed it.

"Hello?" answered a bright, beautiful young voice.

"Hello, this is Kallen Kozuki from the Black Knights," Kallen said.

"Oh?" asked the young woman, "This is the Elliot residence. I'm Rowena, Rowena Elliot. My mom's out right now, so I don't know if there's anything I can do…"

"No, it's fine," Kallen said, "Are you Ann's family?"

The other side of the phone was quiet. "Oh. Yes. Ann," Rowena said, coldly, "I suppose you could call her part of our family, by a stretch."

"A stretch?"

"She declared independence and said she would not be taking assistance from mother anymore. Three years ago."

Kallen decided not to ask the tempting, "Why?" She merely said, "Three years ago, Ann was fourteen."

"Yes."

"And her father was dead. And she refused to take support from her mother."

"Silly, I know," Rowena said, laughing coldly on the other line, "Really, I don't understand how the blind dunce survived. Especially considering that she had the little street urchin to support."

"Oh," Kallen said, "Well, tell your mother that she… that there has been an accident and that she is currently at…" Kallen wondered if she should even tell her, "The Refrain Clinic."

"…She's a Refrain junkie now?" Rowena laughed, "Oh, wow, now she's really done for."

"The drug was forced on her."

"I'm _sure _it was. Thank you so much for telling me this, Mrs. Kozuki. Mom will just be delighted."

"Is there any chance you or your mother could visit her? It often helps in the recovery…"

"No. We're too busy," Rowena said lightly. "Thank you, goodbye." And with that, the girl hung up.

* * *

><p>Ann's house was an old place that might have been decent if not for years of dilapidation. Ann had told her that it was her father's, and that he had given it to her specifically in his will, although technically it wasn't hers until she came of age. Still, her estranged mother and sister never bothered to come around, so it had been as good as hers for many years. It was a few miles from town, in an area surrounded by a few acres and a rusty metal fence.<p>

Willow tree grew in the front yard, with a handmade swing hanging down from it. Sitting slumped over on that swing was a young boy with olive skin and messy dark brown hair. Way too dark for him to be full-blooded Britannian, Kallen observed. He was listlessly pushing the swing back and forth with his feet, while looking at the ground.

"Hey!" Kallen called out, trying to sound friendly.

The young boy shot his head up, his hair flapping back from his face to reveal gray eyes which clashed against his complexion. For a moment, there was joyful expectation on his features, but then when he saw who was at the gate, that look was replaced by disappointment. He hunched back over on his swing.

"Are you Aaron?" she asked.

"Yeah," the boy said indifferently, his immature voice getting the impression across that he wanted to be left alone.

Kallen, finding the gate unlocked, pushed it open and walked toward him. "Oh. Well, I'm Mrs. Kozuki. I'm a friend of your sister's."

Aaron narrowed his eyes. "No you aren't," he said, hostilely.

Kallen halted abruptly. She saw that the child's brow was furrowed hard, and he was gripping the swing.

He asked, "What happened to her? Did she throw herself in front of another pit-bull?"

"… Ann threw herself in front of a pit-bull?"

The boy looked down again.

"More than once?" Kallen asked.

He pursed his lips, refusing to say a word.

Kallen began, "Well…"

"She's really stupid," Aaron interrupted, "It's her fault this stuff happens, really. I mean, she always gets in trouble on purpose. Then she always talks about how she's supposed to take care of me when she can't even handle herself. What happened?"

"She's in the Refrain clinic," Kallen said, getting to the point.

"What?" Aaron shouted, his features snapping from resentful to alarmed. He jumped up. "What do you mean, Refrain Clinic? Isn't that where druggies go? Ann woudl never do drugs!"

"She… how about I explain to you on the way to the clinic?"

"How do I know you are not a crazy kidnapper?" the boy asked suspiciously.

Kallen told him, a little annoyed at his attitude, "Look, I'm Ann's employer. I'm one of the Black Knights." Kallen pulled out her badge and showed it to him.

"No way Ann was working for the Black Knights," Aaron said, still cautious.

"No, she wasn't." Kallen said. She sighed and continued, modifying the story to take out the parts that were top secret, "She cleaned my house, personally, but was kidnapped by some people who are against the Black Knights. They forced her to take Refrain so that she would tell them things that they wanted to know. Now, we found her and got her back, but she can't speak because of the side effects of Refrain. That's why we need you to come; it will probably help her."

"I don't see how."

"Alright then, you don't have to come if you don't want to. I'm not here to kidnap you, after all." Kallen shrugged and turned to walk away.

"No! No! I'll come," Aaron said quickly.

"Okay. But are you sure? You might be a little… scared when you see her."

Aaron's frown deepened, but he nodded, and stiffly followed her to the car. Kallen started up her car and glanced at the boy to make sure he was alright. She watched him watch her, as he folded his arms and glared in silent expectation.

Kallen continued, "No matter what you think, her sickness now can be reversed. With time, I'm certain she'll completely recover."

"Hmm," Aaron said. They both listened glumly to the hum of the car. Then, Aaron broke the unsettled lull, and said, "You know, I think she said something about a Mrs. Ko-zhu-ki." He said the name slowly and sharply, as though he was forcing himself to say it perfectly. Still, it the foreign name tied a knot in his tongue. He frowned harder. "She said you were nice."

"I'm glad," Kallen said, "Your sister is a good person."

"Hmph," Aaron snorted, "She's stupid."

"Why do you say that?"

"She lets people hurt her."

Kallen looked at him intently, "What do you mean?"

"Whatever. You wouldn't understand."

There was another long pause.

"You know, we agreed that I would not come to the hospital the next time," Aaron said, still sullen.

They arrived at the clinic. She noted Aaron's impatience. He huffed dramatically when they were waiting in the room, dangled his legs from the chair, and glared at the floor. When a nurse came out and said, "You can come in now, Mrs. Kozuki," he jumped up compulsively.

Kallen went in first, and the young boy followed her. She entered with a saddened sigh and nodded to Mrs. Opal, Ohgi, and Lloyd as she came in the room. The dark-haired child ran to his sister bed and stopped dead. His frown completely dropped from his face, and his eyes widened. Then, his mouth dropped open; his hand first reached out for towards her.

"Ann? Sis? Are you… okay? Ann!"

Ann's twitching from before had stopped, and she had become completely silent, though obviously not asleep. The tiniest slivers of her eyes were open behind her eyelashes, and her body was propped up against the back of the bed. At the sound of her brother's voice, she didn't respond.

"Ann… what happened to your face? Did you let someone punch you again?"

"Again?" asked Ohgi, more to himself than to anyone else.

The boy flashed him a glare for a second, and then turned his focus on Ann. He tugged on her sleeve, "Hey! Sis! I'm talking to you!" his voice began to tremble pitifully, "Hey…Ann… why won't you say anything?"

"Refrain damages brain cells, so that during with the withdrawal period they become paralyzed and unable to speak, permanently in some bad cases. She might not even know what is going on right now, not even be able to recognize your voice."

Aaron's head dropped an inch. "You mean... she can't talk... or move?"

"Aaron, I'm sorry-"

"You better be!" Aaron shouted at them, "How could you let anyone hurt her like this? Aren't you the Black Knights?"

"We-" Mrs. Opal began.

"I hate you!" the boy said. He snapped his head toward Kallen, and stared her directly in the eyes, "_You _should have helped her!"

Kallen tried to speak, only to get the feeling that her mouth had suddenly been filled with cotton.

The boy turned his face to look at his sister. "Ann, you better start talking now! You're already blind. You can't lose your voice too. Hey, are you listening to me? You better! I'm going to be really mad at you if you don't speak again. Really mad. Do you hear me?" he caught his breath for a while, trying to recover his emotions. Then, he continued, "Can you even move? Your eyes are open; why aren't you moving? Can't you at least nod or something? Ann, come on… If you can't move, can't talk… who am I going to talk to anymore? Come on…" his speech was interrupted by a huge sniffle, "Please…"

"Aa…ron."

The boy jumped, and then asked softly, "Sis?"

Ann's neck trembled, and then she slowly raised her head so that her eyes met Aaron's. The dark-haired child gasped as he realized that, for the first time in his life, Ann was looking him directly in the eyes.

"I… see… you." The words came out of her mouth with great struggle.

"She's talking!" Mrs. Opal exclaimed.

"Sis…? You can see?"

"Aa…ron… don't… cry…."

"Wha…?" the boy sniffled and wiped something off his cheek. "You dummy, I'm not crying. I just got something stuck in my eye." He choked back something that might have been a hiccupping sob.

"Aa..ron… why are you… crying?"

"I _told _you that I am not crying!" his chest jumped up at a few more of those hiccups. Now both of his hands were rubbing his eyes.

"Aaron. Please… don't…"

"I'm not! I'm not! It's great that you can see now. I…Sis…" Ann's head was dropping again. "Hey! Don't you…don't you zone out like that! Hey, Ann!"

But his older sister's eyes closed and she sighed, her body going completely limp as she seemingly fell asleep.

* * *

><p><em>She didn't know where she was. Everything was white, blank, except for someone whom she thought she knew, but wasn't sure how. She tried to call out to him, and ask him where they were and what was going on, but her voice came out as muffled nonsense. Nevertheless, it got his attention and he turned around, scowling.<em>

"_What are you doing here?" he asked._

"_Muh… dunn…no…"_

"_Having trouble speaking, wench?" he asked._

_She nodded._

"_It must be the Refrain," he said, turning his eyes to the floor (was there a floor?)_

_She stared at him uncomprehendingly._

"_The fault is mine. I've brought you into this, this nightmare of Geass."_

_She heard his words, but somehow the significance escaped her. She knew this ought to be important, but her mind was too empty._

"_I will not bother to apologize now. This, I am sure, is just the beginning of your woes, and apologizing for every one of them would just be tiresome. _

"_I'll meet you at your home when you get out. For now, I'll be collecting resources and information. And whatever the Black Knights ask you, deny that you remember anything about me. Got it? You don't remember freeing me, you don't remember escaping with me, you just woke up suddenly with your sight in a place you didn't recognize."_

_She looked at him dumbly. He sighed in frustration._

"_Do you even recognize me, or is your brain fried beyond all comprehension? Wench, tell me. Who am I?"_

_It took her a while to understand the question, and even longer to fish for the answer. A bunch of things came to her mind suddenly: Lelouch vi Britannia, Lelouch Lamperouge, Zero, the prisoner, the Demon Emperor, Lulu._

"_Lulu," she said, a sudden memory flashing to her mind of a girl bleeding out on the floor, whispering that name. She flinched, and shuddered at the memory._

_The young man looked at her, his jaw dropping. "Lulu…? What? only my friends…" his eyes widened in realization._

_She mumbled something, trying to answer._

"_You…you… saw…" he was shaking. "What exactly did you see? Shirley?"_

_The name went along with the image of the bleeding girl. She nodded._

_The young man clutched his head with both hands for a moment, and bent over as though weighed down by some heavy burden. Then, he chuckled in a low tone, and snapped up, his posture straight and proud as ever._"_Euphemia? Did you see me shoot her?" his voice was cold," Did you see me order that pure soul to kill, _force _her to, and promptly shoot her for it? Did you see me use her to achieve my own ends? Did you see me slaughter the Geass order? There were women and children there, non-combatants. Did you see all that? Did you think they deserved to die the bloody, heartless death I gave them? Stop looking at me like that, wench!"_

"_Not… all…your fault," she tried._

_His face twisted painfully, "You know nothing. Get out! Get out! It's my mind, my guilt. You have no right to be in here! Leave!"_

_And suddenly, everything faded from her sight._

* * *

><p>Aaron visited Ann every day after that. Kallen had offered to let the young boy stay at her house but he had refused, saying that he preferred his home and was capable of taking care of himself. He would always come, angrily tell Ann that she better recover quickly, try to get her to talk more, and call her stupid when she didn't talk as long as he wanted. He told Ann that she had better recover and come back in two weeks or he would pinch her very hard. He said that there were a bunch of cool things that she needed to see now.<p>

The four adults tried on numerous occasions to question Ann, but found that, since she could hardly speak one sentence at a time when talking to Aaron, she hardly had the attention to even understand their questions. Sometimes, she would respond to Kallen, but never quite understand questions about Lelouch or his whereabouts. Aaron always started sulking whenever Kallen would try to take up more of their visitation time with those questions.

"He's such a little brat," Mrs. Opal noted to Kallen when she would tell the others about the situation.

"He's exactly what Ann needs. I'm sure he loves his sister," Recalling her conversation with Ann's family, "And he might be the only one."

* * *

><p><em>Another dream, in the same empty white space. A pair of sun-colored eyes stares back at her.<em>

_"Oh? So you're Lelouch's contract?"_

_She can't respond._

_"Hmm. Mute. I didn't expect him to ever pick a handicapped young girl."_

_"Not... handicapped..."_

_"Oh? So you do speak. Your mind is a pile of jelly right now, though. That's not very much fun to play with, although the openness and vulnerability of your state is probably what allowed you to connect to me at this distance, even though we're not contracted." A smirk. "Well, I was curious about what kind of person he had picked. Some advice: don't get too complacent with him. Whatever you think about his personality, whether it's that he's noble or evil, you're wrong. And you'll probably think a lot of different things about him, change your opinion with every new act you see him perform, and you'll still be wrong."_

_"Huuuh?"_

_"Give him a message from me. First: tell him that I apologize for not coming to rescue him from prison myself; I was... occupied. Second: tell him not to bother looking for me."_

* * *

><p>Whenever she tried to remember anything, Ann became very confused. She knew that some of the things she remembered (shooting the bloodstained girl—Euphemia?—screaming as another girl died, seeing a mysterious woman with hair the color of grass and eyes the color of the sun) had not happened. But she wasn't sure. It was all such a jumble in her head, as though the borders between dream, memory, and reality had not existed for a certain point of time. There were others that seemed confused as well. Like her father dying (it was her father, wasn't it? But it was so confused. One moment she was feeling his hand go cold, the next she was watching him disintegrate.)<p>

So she had trouble when Mrs. Kozuki and the others began asking questions about it. It began a week after she had been recovering. They started after Ann's visit. Mr. Lloyd wasn't there.

"Ann? Ann?" Kallen asked, gently as she could, "We need to ask you a few questions."

"Questions?"

"Yes." The four of them sat around her bed, eagerly awaiting answers.

"All…right," Ann said, her speech hesitant.

"Okay, then," Kallen said, "Tell us everything that happened yesterday.

Ann's brow furrowed, and she was silent for a moment, as though trying to think. "I can't really remember anything," she said.

"Try hard, Ann."

"Ummm," Ann was clearly racking her brain, "Oh yes! I was… I was locked up, wasn't I? I was in a chair, and I couldn't move for some reason… I was handcuffed?"

"Yes, you were captured by the terrorists."

"Terrorists…terrorists…" Ann said, closing her eyes, trying to remember, "Oh, and then I was playing with Aaron."

"What?"

"Playing with Aaron. He said that he wanted a swing, so I said I would make him one. He said that I couldn't do it, because I was blind. But I started doing it, and he began to help me, and we made it. And he said, 'Thank you.'" Ann was beaming with joy.

Her four questioners looked at each other, a bit confused.

Then, Ann's face dropped, "But then, I shot that girl," she seemed distressed, "Why did I do that? I can't shoot people! She was all covered in blood. No wait, I promised not to hurt anyone!"

"What do you mean you shot someone?" asked Kallen, confused.

"I… had to do it? She was killing more people. Did I do that? It's all so weird."

"Okay…"

"And then, and then, there were all these dead bodies. And they had…faces, scary faces. And I was carrying someone on my back, and there was this kid walking with me. And then there was this woman shot to death with a little girl under her: my mom, my sister? And then someone beat me up, and shoved my head into the ground with his foot, and I was very sad because I thought he was my friend."

The four adults were gaping.

"Oh, and Ms. Kozuki was there, but she was shorter and…different. And she was leading me to some sort of meeting—U.F.M?-and then…" But Ann stopped midsentence as she recalled the entire memory. She looked at Mrs. Kozuki, and turned bright red, "Never…mind…it was just a weird dream."

"Why, what do you remember?" asked Kallen.

"I really… don't want to say."

Mrs. Opal cut in, "You better tell us everything, or we can have you imprisoned for refusing to cooperate."

Ann's face dropped. Kallen cut in quickly, "That's ridiculous!"

"Nevertheless, it might be a good idea to tell as much as you can," Ohgi said. "You never know what might prove to be significant."

Ann gulped, redder than ever. "Uhhh, well... umm, I'm sure it didn't happen. It's not something that could be useful. It really isn't…umm..."

"Just tell us everything," Kallen said, reassuringly.

"Umm, well, okay, it-it's…in the d-dream… uhhh… Mrs. Kozuki was leading me to the meeting…and then…she k-ki…issed… me." Ann paused, her face scrunched up with shame and embarassment. "On the mouth."

Everyone in the room was quiet. Kallen had turned the exact same color. Then, she hastily reassured Ann, "Don't feel embarrassed. People report all sorts of strange hallucinations when they were on drugs. None of it was real."

Somewhere out there, Kallen thought to herself, Lelouch is laughing at this.

* * *

><p>The former Emperor's plan had worked out well. All he had had to do was put on a mask, charge out with a gun, and get shot. His eyes had widened for a moment when he had recognized the beautiful thirty-something woman leading the Black Knights, but that was a minor detail. After all, they had shot him before he could do anything stupid.<p>

He had almost called out, "Kallen!" from the shock at seeing her after twenty years. However, "Ku-" was all that came out before he fell over bleeding from the bullets she shot. Perfect greeting from his trusty Q1. Of course, he didn't blame her, as he had set it up that way. On the contrary, he found himself gurgling out a chuckle at the irony of the situation before he felt his body go limp, as though he had died. Dying, even for himself as an immortal, always involved. Someone kicked his body, thus proving he was dead, as though the pool of blood didn't convince them.

They left him for dead, of course, when they went to search the building. He got up, squeezed some excess blood out of his clothes (a dripping trail of blood leading the Black Knights to his location would be a ridiculous oversight) and proceeded to walk away.

He stuck to the shadows in the city, as he didn't want to draw attention to himself. At one point, someone actually saw him, with all the blood on his shirt. He had immediately begun an explanation that it was fake blood as part of a prank, but before he could get past the first sentence, the man had reacted… understandably shocked.

"Holy shit! It's the ghost of Lelouch risen from his grave! Holy Mother of God, _the blood on him's still fresh!_"

And then, the man had fainted. The former Emperor rolled his eyes; some people were annoyingly squeamish. He briefly considered whether or not the man would tell anyone. Probably not, as the Black Knights knew better than to deliberate post wanted posters saying, "Wanted: One Demon Emperor. Please contact the Black Knights if you possess any knowledge of this insane mass murderer's whereabouts." No, they would have to keep the entire incident quiet. And this man… had appeared to be distraught and drunk, so he would probably pass it off as a weird drunken dream.

After thinking that, he proceeded to take the man's shirt and wallet. Thus changed into somewhat acceptable appearance, he found a place to stay and meditated on how his Code had gotten out of control earlier. Other than the experience itself being very disturbing, as all of the worst moments of his life had forced themselves upon him, his was a bit disturbed that he had lost control of it so easily.

He didn't know when he fell asleep, but he realized he was dreaming when Ann suddenly stumbled into his consciousness, barely aware of what was going on herself. Then, he had been even more disturbed to realize that Ann had seen his memories through the Code. Shutting her consciousness out as best he could, he woke to find himself slumped over in an alleyway.

He had never considered what exactly the Code was, or what its limitations were. He had never bothered to ask C.C. about her Code, and so now he was frustratingly short on information about it. So far, what he had been able to guess was that it allowed him to give Geass to people (obviously) and ten connect with those Geass users telepathically, in his case, Ann.

Thinking back, he didn't remember ever connecting telepathically with C.C., although she had mentioned speaking to his mother that way. Perhaps she had just chosen not to connect with him? Or maybe the telepathic connection only worked under certain circumstances? What really bothered him, though, was the possibility that his connection to Ann allowed the girl to look into his own mind, if she chose.

He would have to deal with this problem eventually. For now, he decided to focus on finding a few necessities: First, food and water. Second, shelter. Third, a place to gamble.

After those, everything else would fall easily into place.

* * *

><p><strong>So, there it is. I've shown a bit more of the terrorist interrogator's view, as he'll be a significant character later, and introduced Aaron. One thing I think is that this story might be spending too much time with OC's. Reviewers, tell me if you think that's the case and that it's taking away from the effectiveness of the story. I'll try to get more from the canon characters in the coming chapters.<strong>

**I believe I had more to say, but I've forgotten it. Please review with anything. If you have a strong criticism of the story, then I ask you to review even more. Pointing out spelling errors is also appreciated. Positive reviews are nice as well.**

**Thank you for reading, and extra thanks to those of you who bother to review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I have a few things to say. First: sorry for the huge gap between chapters. Second: I have a lot of things that I need to go back and edit (such as misspellings, using L-2 instead of L.L., switching between "Ms." And "Mrs." When referring to Kallen…All sorts of wonderful stuff.) I'll get to that later. If there are any inconsistencies in the timeline or things that do not make sense so far, then please tell me about them so I can fix it when I go back and edit.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6:<strong>

Kallen drove Aaron to the hospital every day, telling him that it was out of consideration for Ann and everything that had happened to her. The kid would be waiting impatiently in front of the house every day, although it was only shortly after he came back after school. He would be very quiet in the car, then bounce into the hospital and talk nonstop to his sister. Ann would mainly just listen, sometimes saying a sentence or so at a time.

Aaron said to Ann at one point, "You better be out of the hospital soon."

"Huh?" she asked.

"I'm sick of you being sick. Get better, or I'll be mad at you."

Ann smiled and promised she would be better in a week. The doctor frowned at this and said she would have to stay longer, and Ann agreed to that too. The girl was really out of it.

The search for Lelouch wasn't getting anywhere. They had people scouring the city for him secretly, but it was hard to have a large force searching for him without the truth somehow leaking out.

Zero had been informed. She wondered what the man behind the mask thought of all of this. She had never really figured out what he thought of Lelouch. There was a time when she thought that man was Suzaku, and that he and Lelouch had collaborated to create this enormous farce in a gambit for world peace. But now she wasn't sure.

The man who was now Zero was much colder and more logical than she remembered Suzaku, for one thing. Secondly, if they had collaborated, then why had he allowed Lelouch to rot in prison so long (she was deceiving herself: she knew exactly why Suzaku would allow this to happen.) And yet, no matter how probable it seemed, she couldn't reconcile the face of the boy who had cried tears of joy after the hostage incident, and a cold, calculating knight who had let his best friend suffer for twenty years.

Then again, she couldn't reconcile what she knew of Suzaku at school with the image of him being the emperor's knight, either. Or of him attempting to use Refrain on her. It was just one of the pieces of the puzzle that never seemed to fit.

* * *

><p>She remembered the day the Demon Emperor died, at least to the public.<p>

She had stood there, bound and helpless, frozen from the sudden shock of seeing "Zero" appear on the horizon. Every noise after that had seemed to stop, as though her ears were plugged up with clay. Her eyes had followed the black figure as he gracefully dodged the bullets from the Knightmare guards and leapt past Nunnally and up to the top of the victory float.

She remembered screaming, but was sure no one heard it. She didn't hear it herself.

She thought she saw a fleeting smile on his face as he whispered something to the masked knight. And she saw the blood pour out (who knew that fragile frame could have so much blood in it?) and Lelouch—Zero—The Emperor stumbled forward and collapse, falling down to his sister.

At that moment, she had thought that it was all planned, that he had somehow sacrificed himself so that the world could move on, free of all the hatred he had tried to embody. That his reign had not been a form of revenge against the world, or the Black Knights, as she had thought it before. That Lelouch had been the man she had hoped he was: a noble hero, a savior.

Then, she had learned that he was alive, and she didn't know how to react. Honestly, she didn't even have _time _to react. Ohgi suddenly gave her a very hasty call and she was then at a secret meeting where they revealed that Lelouch had survived.

She had wanted to talk to him. Hell, she had wanted to talk to him ever since that day, months ago, when he had told her that she "had to live on." She had wanted to talk to him when he suddenly appeared as the new emperor of Britannia. She had wanted to talk to him at the U.F.N. conference, before he decided to turn against the entire world. She had wanted to talk to him when she had sat, defeated, in his prisons. But fate had never allowed it.

This time was no different: she wasn't allowed to talk with him privately. It frustrated her to no end.

* * *

><p>She remembered finally being able to talk privately with Zero after Lelouch's survival.<p>

"Who are you?" was the first thing she asked.

She already knew what he was going to say. He said it: "I am Zero."

Kallen sighed, and ran her fingers through her hair, knowing that further questioning would get her nowhere. "Did you plan all of this? Did _he_?"

"I do not know what you are referring to, Kozuki-san."

At least he had the decency not to call her Q-1. She would definitely have flipped if that had happened, and would not even be responsible for any damage that happened to 'Zero' in that event. World peace be damned.

She continued, "His death. His survival. What kind of game are you two playing?"

"Again, I do not know what you are referring to. I killed Lelouch vi Britannia. His reign has ended. Yet somehow he survived, as he has become immortal. There is no truth, beyond that."

"I know he planned this. I'm certain of it," Kallen said, her voice growing hoarse, "He shouldn't be… they shouldn't be doing to him what they're doing now. You know that. You _know. _You need to stop it. Why are you letting this happen to him?"

She wondered if that made him uncomfortable. There definitely wasn't any sign of discomfort behind the mask. Zero responded, "Are you absolutely sure of that, Kozuki-san? When have you ever been sure about anything, when it came to Lelouch?"

Kallen drew a quick breath at the question. But she said, "You know whether or not he deserves this. And I'm… I'm pretty certain that you know he doesn't."

Zero paused for a long time. Then, he said, "And what if he doesn't? Think for a moment. If he planned his death for the sake of world peace, then wouldn't we be endangering that goal by trying to get him out?"

Kallen's mouth opened to say something, but nothing came out for a while. Was he actually telling her the truth? Or just toying with her? Finally, she said, "Why can't you just tell all of them that he planned it all? Tell everyone that he doesn't deserve it?"

"Would they believe me? I would admit to working with the Demon Emperor, and thus lose all standing with them. Would it be worth it? Would they believe a far-fetched story about someone who committed mass slaughter for the sake of preventing more slaughter? Would they?"

Kallen was silent.

"My job," Zero continued, "Is to do whatever I can to ensure peace in the world. Assuming that I was once working with the Demon Emperor to ensure this goal, how could I ruin that goal for the sake of one man?"

"He's your friend."

"I do not know what you are referring to. This was just a hypothetical situation. "

"Well," Kallen hissed, "Hypothetically, then, couldn't you organize a secret rescue?"

"Hypothetically, yes. But realistically, such an endeavor I would leave some trace, and that could damage the state of the world. It would be too risky."

"Well someone else could-"

"Don't you dare even think of it," Zero said sharply. "In this _hypothetical_ situation, I believe Lelouch would have wanted you to live on. The best thing you could do is exactly that: move on, go back to Ashford, fall in love, whatever suits your fancy. Forget about as much of this as you can. I don't want another life ruined by this. Enough lives already have been. Don't ruin your life and possibly the peace of the world by throwing your lot in with a man who may or may not be noble. "

She was surprised at the sudden strength of his voice. It was real thought, real emotion behind that robotic voice.

Zero continued, "And if Lelouch vi Britannia is worth one scrap of the respect and passion you have for him, he would say the same."

"I can't," Kallen said, feeling her eyes suddenly sting. "I can't move on without… without an answer from him."

"Life is all about moving on without an answer. " Was there a hint of regret in his voice? "There may be no resolution, but you still need to move forward."

It took Kallen a long time to swallow this answer. She had one more question before she left. "What about Nunnally? Shouldn't she know?"

Zero paused. "Everyone else's decision was to leave Nunnally ignorant."

"But-"

"I have tried to speak to Nunnally on a few separate occasions. Unfortunately, she is not willing to speak to me in private."

Oh, Kallen thought. Of course Nunnally would give the cold shoulder to the man who killed her brother, especially if it was Suzaku.

"If you feel willing to violate the will of the others, and tell her, then I will not stop you."

Kallen nodded, and left, her heart not feeling any more sure than when she had come

* * *

><p>She never did tell Nunnally. The young Empress was soon busy in the affairs of the Empire, and Kallen never got to see her except at public ceremonies. She tried to schedule an appointment, but always was met with government bureaucrats who sent her to other bureaucrats who sent her back to the same bureaucrats. Eventually, she got the point that she wouldn't be allowed to see Nunnally.<p>

The one chance that she did have to tell Nunnally—when the girl was speaking to her in private and reminiscing about her brother with tears in her eyes—she couldn't do it. She didn't know why she couldn't. Nunnally seemed to have a good opinion of Lelouch at the time, and somehow Kallen wondered if that would ruined if she found out Lelouch was alive. It was easier to forgive someone when they were dead, after all.

Kallen had tried, but ultimately the five minutes she had alone with the young Empress were not long enough for her to drag out the courage to tell her. One more minute, and she was sure she would've been able to.

Meanwhile, she tried to convince them to give easier treatment to Lelouch in prison. They eventually listened to her and stopped the executions. And he was left in that cell, alone, blindfolded…

Very few nights went by when her stomach didn't turn with the thought.

* * *

><p>She remembered one night when she suddenly found Lelouch in a dream of hers. He was in a white space, sitting in the same chair that they had put him in at the prison. Except there was an enormous chess board displayed in front of him, with the pieces moving every now and then. His face showed relaxed concentration, as though he was focusing on a real chess game.<p>

Kallen didn't dream very often, so it was odd that she was having one with such clarity and lucidity.

"Lelouch," she said, not quite believing what she was seeing.

"Oh. Hello," he said, not quite paying attention. Then he looked at her and he blinked. "Kallen? You again?"

"What do you mean, 'again?'"

"Well, considering that I am stuck blindfolded in a prison cell, this can't be anything but another dream. You have appeared in a few of them, so this is to be expected. Nunnally comes a lot, as well, along with Shirley and Euphemia." He thought. "Strangely, no C.C. Perhaps that's because she's the only person whose life I didn't personally ruin? Hmmm…"

"I… Lelouch…"

He looked at her, his face making a painful expression. "I'll repeat what I said in the other dreams. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Oh wait, something else…. I'm sorry." He looked at the chessboard suspended in front of him. His eyes widened suddenly. He exclaimed, "So that's what I should have done to beat Schneizel! Son of a…"

"No, Lelouch… I should be apologizing," she said.

His eyes widened, and then he looked away. Not quite speaking to her or even himself, he murmured, "Well… that's different. Normally they rage at me with tears in their eyes and say things like how could I abandon them, or become dictator of the world, or imprison my own sister…whichever happens to be on my mind on the moment."

"Lelouch, answer me!" she said, "I'm right here, right now. Even if this is a dream… even if it's not real… I still want to be able to look you in the eyes and get answers from you. Real answers. There's too much…" she trailed off, not sure how to finish the sentence.

He looked at her, as though for the first time. "Kallen? That's really you?"

"Yes… Lelouch," she said. "Are you a dream?"

"Are you? I'm not sure. Is this even… possible?" then, his expression changed. "Of course, the Code!" he muttered to himself.

"Lelouch, did you plan your death? Did you… Is this all some sort of sacrifice on you part? What do you want me to do? Should I help you, get you out?"

He looked like he was about to answer, but suddenly, at that very moment, the entire world blurred and he began fading.

"Lelouch, answer me dammit!" she yelled.

She couldn't hear the last thing he said, but it looked like: "Forget me."

* * *

><p>One day, Kallen ran into Gino Weinberg. She was surprised to find his eyes lacking the joy they normally had had in what she remembered of him. They got talking, mainly about what life was like now that there was no need for Knightmare frames. She herself had been feeling restless, unsettled by the desire to jump into one of the mechanical monsters once more and fly through the air. She found that he shared the same urge.<p>

Talking to him felt right. There was something that she shared with him, some sort of common ground. How odd that she would feel that way about a Britannian noble, the category of people he had despised most. But nobility or the lack of it didn't matter in this world anymore, everyone was too shell-shocked from Lelouch's reign to care anymore.

They went to a Japanese restaurant. She asked him why he hadn't gone back to his homeland.

He smiled sadly, "Well… you see… I was looking for someone here. It's kind of a long story."

She asked him to tell it.

She wasn't expecting what she heard. The very reason that he joined the Britannian military was that his parents had disapproved of his love for a Japanese maid. He had never found out what had happened to his sweetheart, except that she went back to her homeland.

"So, I thought that now the world's changed. It doesn't matter that I was a nobleman or that she was an Ele-Japanese maid, sorry," he said apologetically. "I thought that maybe now I could find out what happened to her, and maybe we could start again. Now that everything's been torn down and the ground has been ripped from under our feet, then maybe we could have something." He looked down.

"So, what happened to her?" Kallen asked, seeing in his eyes that the answer would not be a happy one.

"She died. In the first F.L.E.I.A use." He gulped down a lump in his throat. "So Suzaku…" he didn't even finish that sentenced. Instead, he laughed hollowly. "I'm ridiculous. Pouring out my troubles to you. I know you've got it much harder."

Because the man she loved not only was dead, but had become the Demon Emperor. That's probably what he was thinking. If only it was that simple.

"No, you're not ridiculous," Kallen said, finally. And he wasn't. She would be doing the exact same thing with him, except that she wouldn't be able to do it with as much self-control as Gino. If she ever talked about it, she felt that her heart would burst and she start screaming and crying like a madwoman.

They sat a long time in silence, and though absorbing each other's sorrow, his that he had recently talked about, hers that ran so deep that she couldn't bring herself to speak.

"So what are you going to do now?" Kallen asked.

"I don't know," Gino said. "I'm not a knight anymore. There's no need for military, and besides, this whole thing has come to make me wonder what the hell I was ever loyal to. My friends… well, Suzaku's obviously dead and Anya disappeared. I'm not sure if I want to go back to the military, with them gone. I… can't rebuild what I had with Suki—that was her name—and I'm not going back to my family. I hated them, and they're dead anyway. Died in Pendragon." He paused, and added as a bitter self-reproach, "What a terrible thing to think about your family."

Then Kallen had the idea. "Come back to Ashford," she said.

"Huh?"

"Someone told me," she said, not being more specific, because of who told her, "That when all of this was over, I ought to go back to school with… him."

She saw the look in Gino's eyes, and realized that she had given it away. He already knew who she was talking about. She hardened her jaw, and looked away.

"Anyway, he's dead. But I've gone back, and it's much better than I expected. It's nice to be a kid instead of a soldier for a little while. It's… Well, you can try it if you have nothing else to do."

He looked at her curiously. Then he said, "You know, I just might."

And so, Gino Weinberg transferred to Ashford Academy. It wasn't the same, of course, but they found themselves making friends and healing gradually over time. She regained her fiery temper, and he returned to his normal boisterous self. And they grew closer, finding that they could share more with each other than with everyone else they knew.

And then, they fell in love. Not passionately and dangerously in love, but comfortably and affectionately in love, so that they knew that they could build a life together. Kallen could not forget Lelouch, could not stop doubting and raging about whether or not he deserved what had happened, could not forget the devotion that she held for him. She could not stop squirming about all of the things that she needed to tell him, and all of the answers he owed her. However, she came to acknowledge that a relationship between them could never be, even if someday he got out of prison.

And so, despite the doubts worming at her heart, Kallen Kozuki lived on.

* * *

><p>To say that Kallen was surprised when she came to the clinic to find Ann's hospital bed empty would be an understatement.<p>

It was on the one day that Aaron said he wouldn't come. She wasn't sure why he wouldn't, but he said that he was sick and didn't want Ann to get sicker. He wouldn't open the door, so Kallen had no way of knowing, though he did seem rather distraught.

"What happened? Where is the girl that used to be here?"

"Oh," the nurse replied, "I'm not sure. Maybe she left."

"Left?"

"Yes. Actually," the nurse said, "I saw a girl leaving a bit earlier. I thought she was a bit unsteady, not quite ready to leave maybe."

Kallen swore under her breath. She remembered that Ann had promised her brother to get better. Maybe the girl had gotten it into her head that Aaron hadn't come because he was mad, and decided to leave to go get to him.

Her first instinct was to call someone and start a search. But then, she realized that such a gesture would be overreacting. After all, she knew where Ann would go. Instead, she set out to find the girl herself.

* * *

><p>Ann's head felt fuzzy when she left the clinic. She was dizzy, and it was evening outside, but she had to get home. Aaron was waiting for her; she had been gone for so long! She had to get back to him as fast as possible, although she wasn't quite sure where her home was in comparison to here… but she just had to ask for directions, right?<p>

Seeing the town was so confusing. Colors and shapes that she had never been aware of before, people passing by… It was frightening and amazing at the same time. But most importantly, it was distracting. Before she knew it, the number of people on the streets was thinning out and the sun was setting. She was worried as she realized it was getting darker, but then she was distracted by the flashy, bright beauty of the orange rays of the sun. Then, she shook her head and realized that she had better be going or it would be dark soon.

She approached a bridge, and decided that she must ask for directions. But now everyone was gone. Wait, no, there was someone by the edge of the bridge: a tall, lanky young man, probably slightly older than her, with dark hair cut in an unattractive, military fashion.

"Excuse me, sir, I-" but then Ann paled as she got closer. The young man was gripping the side of the bridge so hard and with such an expression on his features that it seemed like he was about to throw himself off. Then, she saw him actually begin to place his foot on the rail, as though about to climb over it. She sprinted toward him.

"No!" she screamed, "Don't do it!"

The young man started and turned to look at who yelled to him, but she had already closed the distance and was already upon him, grabbing his arm.

"You can't throw your life away like that," she told him, and pulled him away from the railing. He was jerked back a little from the

There was a look of complete and utter shock on his face for a moment. He pulled away from her, and said, "You-!" but he didn't finish his sentence.

"You can't just jump!"

"You're…" he started, but then suddenly he seemed to rethink what he was going to say. He relaxed, took a breath, and looked her in the eye. "What do you want?" he asked, a tense note in his voice.

"I want you not to jump," she said, worriedly.

He looked at her, confused. Then he shook his head as if berating himself for some unintentional stupidity. He let go of the rail, and sighed. "What are you thinking? I don't even know you."

Ann blinked. "If it helps at all, I'm Ann."

"Yes." The young man said. Then, he added almost as an afterthought, "I mean, that name suits you. And I wasn't going to jump. I was just going to walk outside the rails."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "I can't commit suicide. It's against my religion. Apparently, I'll be damned to hell if I do," he said, his voice shaded with sarcasm. "But more importantly, my family and friends wouldn't take well to it. A few of them would probably drag me out of hell, throttle me, and then throw me back in if I ever tried."

Ann blinked, uncertain. "Your friends sound very violent," she said.

"That was supposed to be a joke."

"Oh."

She looked at him more closely. "You look…sad," she said.

He laughed, long and hard. Ann stepped a bit away from him. He asked her, "Do you do this a lot? Randomly stop people from jumping off bridges?"

"You said you weren't going to jump," she pointed out.

"And I wasn't," he insisted. "Do you stop people from committing suicide often?"

"Ummm, no," she said.

He paused, and gulped. "What about throwing yourself in front of punches when someone else is being attacked?"

Ann was startled. "May—maybe," she said, frowning as she found herself stuttering a little. She was feeling less and less comfortable with this person.

There was a long pause. His face softened a little bit. "I'm sorry. It's just, I met someone who looked a lot like you once. Except that she was blind, and you're clearly not."

"Well," Ann said, "I was part blind, but I was cured a little while ago."

His eyes widened. "Oh," he said, his voice even more strained. "Oh," he repeated, "Well, thank you."

"Huh?"

"For what you did."

"Ummm, I-I don't really remember…"

"That's fine, that's fine," he said, "Is there anything you need? Something I can do to repay the favor?"

"Umm, well, th-there's…" she stopped, and remembered suddenly what L.L. told her about stuttering. She really needed to stop it. She took a deep breath, and said evenly, "I need to get home, but I don't know how to get there from this place."

"Sure. I could give you a ride. Or order you a taxi. Whatever you prefer."

"I'll take the ride."

He nodded, "Okay then. My car's over there."

They went to where he had parked his car, and she gave him the address. He asked, "Aren't you a bit worried to give your address to a complete stranger?"

She shuffled, "Ummm, should I be?"

He looked away for the briefest moment. "Usually people are," he said, "Worried about getting robbed, I suppose."

"I don't have anything worth taking, really," she said.

He shrugged. When they were driving away, he said, "You were just released from the Refrain Clinic?"

She jumped, suddenly feeling as though someone stuck a needle in her skin. "Y-ye—how did you know that?" she asked, almost afraid.

"The band on your wrist says it."

Her left hand immediately flew to her right, and she felt the paper bracelet there. She sighed. "Oh, that," she said, relaxing a little bit. Then, suddenly she became self-conscious, realizing that he must think of her as a drug addict. "It wasn't my fault. I didn't want to take it," she said.

"I know. I mean, I figured. You don't look like the type to get into drugs of your own free will."

There was a pause. Ann felt that it was too quiet, so she tried to start a conversation. "So… umm, you said you were religious?"

"My mother was a devout member of the Catholic Church."

"Oh, that's…" Ann gulped. _Was,_ he had said. "And are you?"

"I go to Church on Sunday."

Ann was not sure what that entailed, exactly, but she nodded like she understood. "Is your father religious?"

"Yeah, he was."

There was that _was _again. She wondered if his parents had stopped being religious or if they were dead. Something in his tone seemed to indicate the latter. "Oh," Ann said simply.

There was another long pause.

"So… what's your name?" asked Ann.

He pursed his lips. "Ahhh, I'm not sure I want to tell you."

"Why?"

He sighed, "It's stupid name. My parents had cringingly extravagant naming tastes. You'll probably laugh."

"No, no I won't," Ann insisted. "Tell me."

"It doesn't really matter, anyway."

Ann said, "I'd like to know it, though. It can't be as bad as a boring name like mine."

He grimaced. "Okay, okay. It's Cuchulainn O'Donnell."

"Cu-hu-lin," Ann said mimicking his pronunciation. "That is kind of weird. I like it, though."

He shrugged. "Well, it's not the worst thing in the world I guess. I mean, if my crazy aunt had her way, I would have been named Ahaseurus, which is just a ridiculous mouthful. My father had a thing for Celtic mythology, so I got this. " He continued, "So… it's just 'Ann?' No last name?"

"Uhh, Ann Lear," she said.

"Lear like from Shakespeare?" he asked.

"Uh, sure, I guess." She had heard about Shakespeare at school, but wasn't completely sure who he was.

They were interrupted by a cell phone ringing. Ann jumped slightly a t the noise. Cuchulainn pulled a phone out of his pocket and mumbled under his breath, "Shirley."

"Who?"

"A friend." He clicked a few buttons on the phone. Ann watched.

"Did you just hang up on her?" she asked.

"I'll talk to her later. There are things that I'm not willing to discuss while driving. I don't want to get in an accident after all, and the… ah, discussion that's brewing this time is likely to be a very energetic and consuming, so I'll save it for some time when I'm not behind the wheel."

They drove for a while in silence. Ann wasn't sure why, but she felt comfortable around this guy. He had a natural air that put her at ease. And she liked his voice; it was low and calm and soothing, almost like a cello. His eyes were also nice, very kind-looking. He seemed very sad, though, a bit jumpy.

Then, she looked out the window and in the rear-view mirror. They were being followed by a green car. Which was fine in and of itself, except that much later the car was still there.

It took Ann a while to piece together the significance of this, but when she did she jumped and a million questions ran through her brain. Who was it? The Black Knights? The terrorists? What should she do? Tell Cuchulainn? Yeah, she should probably do that, but… she didn't want him to know why she was being followed…

"Is something wrong, Ann?" Cuchulainn asked.

"Y-yes," she said, "Umm, we-we're… there's a c-car…. it's following us…"

Cuchulainn's hands gripped the wheel and he looked in the rear view mirror. However, once he saw the car, he relaxed a bit. "Don't worry," he told her, "I got this."

And then he pulled over by the side of the road. Ann was surprised. "Wh-what are you doing? Isn't that the worst…?"

"Do you remember that friend I told you about?"

"Huh? Yeah…"

"That's her. It seems that she won't let me delay this."

The green car pulled over behind them, and Ann saw a slender girl her age step out, her long red hair flowing behind her.

"Cuchulainn, you jerk!" she yelled, "Get out of that car right now!"

"Sorry about this," he said. He stepped out of the car. "Hi, Shirley."

Shirley walked right up to him, getting in his face. "Where have you been this past week? Why did you hang up on me? Don't you know how worried we've all been? Where is Roan?" she asked strongly. Then, she looked at Ann in his car, and asked in a more confused voice,"Who's she?"

Ann shrunk back a little.

"Oh, this is Ann. Ann, would you like to come meet Shirley?"

"I'm fine."

"Come out here!" Shirley commanded. Ann reluctantly got out of the car. Then, Shirley held out her hand in a surprisingly friendly manner. She said in a pleasant voice contrastingly nicely to the way she talked to Cuchulainn, "Nice to meet you, I'm Shirley Kozuki."

"Umm, y-yeah…" Ann shook her hand. "Nice to me-meet you too." Wait, Shirley _Kozuki_?

"You're kinda shy, aren't you? Cuchulainn, why is she…?"

"I met her just a little while ago and was giving her a ride home," he said.

"You're lying, aren't you? She's one of your gambling partners!"

"Gambling…?" Ann murmured under her breath. That had an oddly familiar ring to it.

Cuchulainn seemed annoyed at this. "I told you, Shirley! I gave that up last year! I haven't been gambling."

"So where have you been for the past week? You can't just disappear and not tell us anything! We were worried about you."

He didn't say anything.

"You're not going to tell? You're impossible! Ugh," Shirley said, folding her arms. "I swear, one of these days I'll just have my Mom send Black Knights to trail you and figure out where you disappear to all the time. It is gambling, isn't it?"

"I doubt that the Black Knights would mobilize over something so insignificant. They've got bigger problems. And it's _not _gambling!"

"Something worse, then?"

Ann blinked. "This is weird."

They both looked at her.

"I have a feeling that this has happened before," Ann said, more to herself. "Except you're supposed to be different," she told Shirley.

Shirley looked taken aback by this. "What do you mean?"

"Your eyes are supposed to be different. A different, umm, color, I guess?"

_Shut up, wench. You keep bringing up thoughts like that, and eventually someone will figure out what's going on._

Huh?

"Never mind," Ann said, confused at the sudden voice in her head.

"Is your friend some kind of psychic or something weird like that?" Shirley asked.

"No," Cuchulainn said.

"I-I…"

_Say that you've met her mother. Her mother is Kallen Kouzuki, and you are just struck by how similar she is to her._

"Shirley… is your mom Kallen Kozuki of the Black Knights?"

"Yeah," Shirley said.

"I was… I mean, you look a lot l-like her, I guess."

"You work for the Black Knights?" Shirley asked, incredulous.

"No, I clean for the Black Knights…" Ann said. She blinked again. Why was the word "reincarnation" suddenly popping up in her mind? Was that even a word? It wasn't one she knew.

_No matter how many times I am reborn…_

Ann couldn't keep herself focused. A bunch of images were swimming to the top of her mind, images of a bright-eyes, cheery girl with hair similar to the Shirley in front of her.

"Oh, wait…" Shirley said, "My mom said something about a girl named Ann… Are you the one that was kidnapped by terrorists?"

Did Cuchulainn flinch? "Umm, she told you that?" Ann asked.

"Oh, it is you! She said that when you were out of the Refrain clinic, she wanted me to meet you. Wow, this is an odd coincidence."

"Tell me about it," Cuchulainn muttered.

Shirley glared at him, "I'll deal with _you _later. For now, let's get Ann home. Or wait, shouldn't you still be recovering in the hospital?"

"I-I need to get home."

Shirley looked worried. "No, you need to recover. Your eyes look kind of out of focus…"

_Appeal to her as a young person. Say that the adults worry too much._

L.L? Was that L.L?

"Adults worry too much," Ann said in monotone, obeying the voice.

_Idiot. Not exactly as I put it. Do I really have to feed you lines word for word?_

"I me-mean, I'm fine. I need to get home to my brother. He needs me. Your mom is nice, but I've already recovered. They just want to take an extra precaution."

Cuchulainn didn't seem convinced. "I think you should stay longer, if that's what they think."

_Brush off his worry. Shrug. _

Ann shrugged. "I can walk, can't I? And like I said…"

_Your brother._

"…My brother needs me. He doesn't have anyone to take care of him or cook for him at home. He's probably been living on sandwiches this past week and not eating proper meals. And... and the place must be a mess."

_Ha, ha, mess. You have _no _idea._

Ann finished, "I can't just sit around in the hospital doing nothing."

"Well if you put it that way," Shirley said, "I know Mom can be a worrywart sometimes. I'll just call her and tell her that you're with us." Then she grinned. "But you're not going home just yet."

"What?"

"No, _first _Cuchulainn and I will get you to have some fun. I know a great café. We can get to know each other."

"But my brother…"

"Will be fine. He's survived after all these weeks, hasn't he?" Shirley glared at Cuchulainn, "And I have more to say to _you _later. Don't you think I'm done just because of this! I'll get the truth out of you if I have to use torture."

Ann winced at the last word, though mentally she told herself it was a joke, just a joke between two friends. "I really should go home and check on my brother," she murmured

Shirley said, "Well how about we let you go there for a while, and then we pick you up an hour or so later?"

"Ummm…"

"It's settled then!" she said, excitedly.

Ann was about to object, but Cuchulainn caught her eye and shook his head. "Don't bother. There's no point in arguing with her."

"Damn strait!" Shirley retorted. "Now, let's take her home."

* * *

><p>They finally made it to Ann's home. He stopped in front of it. "Is this it?"<p>

"Yeah. This is it," Ann said as she stepped out of the car.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Ann."

"You too, Cu…" Shoot, she forgot his name. "Cuckoullan," she tried. He winced, and Ann knew she had mispronounced it. "Sorry," she said.

"It's fine."

"We're coming back in an hour!" Shirley called out from her car."

"I'm sorry."

Ann blinked, and turned around. "Did you say something else?"

"No," he said.

"Oh, well thank you," she said, and she closed the door to the car and walked back to her house. It was so odd—seeing her house for the first time. Familiar and yet new. She turned back and waved at her two new friends as they drove off, and opened the door.

"Aaron? Aaron, I'm home!"

She was surprised when no one answered. She entered, looking around and absorbing the newness of her old place.

Then she walked into the living room, and felt chills go down her spine. The bright-colored puddle on the carpet was, unfortunately, one sight that she was familiar with in her short time of seeing.

"Bl-blood? Wh-why is there blood on the floor? Aaron?" she said desperately, in a weak voice. "Aaron!"

"I didn't mean to," Aaron called from one of the other rooms.

Ann jumped.

"We had a bit of an… incident," said another voice she had become quite familiar with. Her eyes darted to another area in the living room, and she saw L.L. sitting relaxed on a chair, a gaping hole in his chest. He didn't seem the slightest bit bothered by the enormous wound there, but rather bored and laconic. "Your younger brother is actually a good shot for a boy his age."

"Wha…?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Aaron said. "He just suddenly was in here! I thought he was I robber. And I _told _him not to move, or I'd shoot, but he didn't listen."

Ann gasped. "Aaron, you _shot _him?"

"No, I shot myself of course," L.L. replied sarcastically.

Ann flicked her eyes towards the immortal before regarding her younger brother sternly. "Where did you get the gun? How did you even learn to use it?"

Aaron looked down, shamefacedly. "Well, the gun's always been here. It belonged to… umm,_ your_ Dad. I just found it one day. That and a BB gun. I learned how to use it on the internet."

"Dangerous invention, that," the amethyst-eyed immortal said. "I honestly don't mind. I'm still here after all."

Ann looked for the nearest couch to collapse on. This was turning into a bizarre day. No, scratch that, this was turning into a bizarre _existence _ever since she had received Geass.

"Aaron," she said, deciding not to collapse on a couch at the moment. "Didn't I tell you that killing people is wrong?"

Aaron exploded, "He was in the house! I had to defend myself! What if he was a serial killer?" Aaron paused, "Actually, he _is _a serial killer. He's _Lelouch_! How the heck did you meet some sort of immortal vampire-zombie-dictator?"

"Aaron," she said, "First of all, just because he's immortal doesn't mean he's a vampire or a zombie. And he's definitely not a vampire. He doesn't drink blood." She paused, and looked at her immortal contractor a little bit uncertainly, "…Right?"

"Right," her companion responded with an amused smile.

"Second of all, _you still shouldn't kill him. _It's wrong to kill!"

Aaron folded his arms defiantly, and mumbled, "He got better."

Ann facepalmed. "We'll save this discussion for later. For now… did none of you think to clean it up?"

"I don't know how to clean up blood," Aaron said, "And the _Demon Emperor's _too lazy."

"Of course." L.L's eyes blinked lazily. "It's not as though I conquered the world through work ethic, or something like that. What did you expect?"

Ann's shoulder's slumped. "Fine. Let's get it cleaned up. We can talk about all of this… later."

* * *

><p><strong>Extra points for anyone who guesses who Cuchulainn is. I named him such a ridiculous name because I thought it would be funny, and because the myth of Cuchulainn is one of the origins of Geas (the magical, unbreakable vow or command), of which Geass is the fictional descendant.<strong>

**By the way, someone has recently told me that the title and summary for this story is not the best. So, if anyone has a better title or summary to suggest, then I would appreciate it.**

**I'm not too confident about this chapter. Actually, I haven't been very confident about many chapters in this story. I am sure there are people who read it, and their lips curl in absolute disgust. Please review and tell me what you think, especially if you have criticism. I need criticism. So, so much.**


	7. Chapter 7

**So, it seems I am not dead, and neither is this story. Truthfully, it never would have been written if not for the reviews. Thank you, reviewers. Three in particular (firelordzuko, Dogmatix, and theAsh0-forgive me if I spell any of your names wrong) actually reviewed and PM'ed me during my long, unintentional hiatus, encouraging me to continue. Special thanks to them.**

**Anyway, part of the reason for the long wait was because I didn't know what part to write next: there was something that should have happened before Chapter 6 and after Chapter 5, but I forgot about it until I posted the last chapter. And then I didn't know what to do. I hope I've sorted it out.**

**By the way, would someone please suggest a good story cover for this story? I don't know of a good on myself.**

**Disclaimer: No, no...If I owned Code Geass I don't think I would enjoy it nearly as much.**

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 7:<span>**

After twenty years of existing only in darkness and dreams, it was the world outside didn't make sense to him anymore.

Shapes and colors of things that had once been familiar now seemed jarring to his senses: so bright it was too bright, so detailed it was overwhelming, so _real _that it was surreal. His memories had faded so much that reality was a painting come to life, moving mysterious and dream-like before his eyes.

In the past, he had seldom wandered, but rather walked purposefully from place to place, plans swirling through his mind and his senses keenly absorbing all the information around him so that he could appropriately react to any situation that might arise. He had looked at things and people with active judgment, spying out injustice and using it to remind himself why he was doing what he was. Now he found himself wandering around purposelessly, only noticing things with blank numbness and detachment.

Not that freedom was a burden; on the contrary, it was a blessing that seemed to be stirring up a fire inside of him that he had thought had been smothered long ago. Still, certain…aches were made worse by his new freedom. It was nothing, really, just a simple matter of emotions that had long fallen beneath his control. True, they might be acting up slightly, but it was as though they bothered him _that_ much. It was understandable, if course, that he would suddenly get these irrational impulses…

Like the desire to call up Milly and catch up on how her life had been these past twenty years.

Like the want to look at Kallen's children and laugh with their mother about old times.

Like the desire to see Suzaku and find out how he had been faring under his own burden.

… or like the sudden desire to run as fast as possible to the imperial palace, throw himself at Nunnally's feet, and beg forgiveness with tears streaming down his face, to have her caress his cheek and whisper softly: _"I forgive you..."_

His head spun at the thought.

Okay, so maybe he was a _tad _bit more affected by these thoughts than he thought, considering that he felt like his chest had been hit with a fifty pound weight and his eyes stung (particularly at the last thought.) It would be like the fulfillment of a dream to see any of them again. He had to remind himself that _every single one of them hated him _and _most _of them wanted him dead, and thus any such fantasized reunion would be highly impractical.

Examples: Suzaku hated him, and had worked with him only on the condition that he forfeit his life at the end of it: there was no possible friendship left there, only a devolved partnership underlined with mistrust and hatred. Kallen… not only did he doubt that she could trust him after all this time, but he wouldn't want to gain her trust again after considering how _that _ended up for her in the end. Milly and Rivalz… there would be too much to explain, and so little point to it all in the end. Nunally…

_I love you, Big Brother._

Lelouch gulped down a painful lump in his throat. He had thought that Nunnally had said something of the sort upon seeing him dying… but had he really? Perhaps it had just been one of the many heart-wrenchingly comforting dreams of his, or the hallucination of a dying man. At any rate… there was no possibility that she would accept him alive, even if she had forgiven him after death.

_I would have been happy just to be with you! All I wanted... I never asked for-_

He sharply cut off his train of thought. How strange that twenty years of complete despair didn't sting nearly as hard as single happy dream that could never happen.

It didn't matter, he told himself. He was hated. He could never heal the friendships he had once had with the people he knew. But the world was at peace.

So what was there for an escaped demon do? Thus was the dilemma presented to him as the wench recovered in the clinic, and the Black Knights struggled to find him in the aftermath. What could he do? Nunnally was happy, Suzaku seemed to be doing his job, and he was certain that the rest of his friends wouldn't benefit from a visit. There might be some problems left with the world, but trying to solve them himself might lead to being discovered and letting all hell loose; besides, he was certain those left behind could do a good job. His death had just been the first domino in a long chain of reactions that would eventually lead to the best world he could offer. There were few disturbances, none that would be worth his attention.

Except perhaps a certain inefficient group of terrorists that he had the desire to exterminate. His lips formed a smirk at the thought.

* * *

><p>When his latest pawn had been in the clinic, he hadn't been lax. No, he had maneuvered throughout the underworld gambling illegally to gain funds. He had used his time to observe the new world that had come about in the aftermath of his death while making as little of an effect as possible on it. Then, he had slipped out of the city and headed toward the one place where he knew that he would not be gunned down for his identity: the household of Jeremiah Gottwald.<p>

It had not been an easy decision. He had been worried that Jeremiah might get too... excited at the prospect of being alive and not agree with his plans to end it all. While he couldn't doubt the man's loyalty, he wasn't sure he wanted to pop up after all this time just to say he was trying to die again. Nevertheless, he had ultimately decided that he needed to make sure he had allies in case of an emergency. Also, he could see with they knew where his witch had wandered off to, something that he had been pondering for a while.

He took precautions to make sure that he was not being followed, of course, though he doubted anyone would just follow him rather than just ambushing him as soon as possible. He traveled a route that relied on transportation that was more difficult to trace: cars, taxis, even a horse and cart at some point. He keep to isolated roads and places away from where the Black Knights would think he would go. And so, he finally reached the Orange Farm.

What surprised him was that it was empty and desolate. The orchard was untended, the house barred up, and not a trace of anyone living there.

A sinking feeling formed in his stomach. He tried knocking on the door, but no one answered. He actually called out: nothing.

The darkness that seemed to hang over his mood did not let up as he walked to the nearby village, sitting down at the nearest bar and asking who lived at the Orange Farm.

"No one lives there!" the man at the bar said. "Why, that's the place where them terr-ists found Lord Gottwald 'n blasted 'is brains out!"

And the young man's blood ran cold... with anger.

He heard the whole story there. The terrorists (damn them, he thought, couldn't they at least think of a name for themselves?) had figured out where the Demon Emperor's most loyal subject lived without punishment for his "crimes." How, he did not know, though neither did he plan on remaining ignorant about it. They had somehow managed to get past the the security that was installed there( Geffyon disturbers?) and had somehow (this was the most ridiculous part) killed Jeremiah Gottwald.

_How?!_

Gottwald was all but _invincible! _He was half made of metal! He defied the laws of reality with how much he had overcome with sheer will!

When out of sight, he had slammed his hand against the nearest wall, with nothing else to take his rage out on.

Perhaps those terrorist insects weren't so insignificant that he could _crush_ them for daring to take any of his pieces.

* * *

><p>It took him a while to track down Anya Alstreim, but still not too long. He ultimately found her living a quiet life in one of the more obscure and underdeveloped regions of Britannia, living under the name Abbey Guerra. She had dyed her hair, and looked much more grown up than when he had last seen her. Much more.<p>

When she had seen him, she had at first commented in an even tone of voice (though not quite like her former monotone) that he reminded her of someone she once knew.

"If you mean the Demon Emperor Lelouch, no need to disguise your thoughts," he said. "I am he."

She had paled considerably and gripped the nearest object for support. They had both gone back to her house before they spoke more.

"You..." she said, not quite finishing. "How much of this did you plan?" she asked, her tone... skeptical with an undertone of harshness.

"None of it. Not gaining immortality, not awakening as they attempted to cremate my body, not being locked in a prison for twenty years," he responded coolly.

She stared at him, comprehension flooding over her face.

"You believe me?"

"There is no point in believing or disbelieving you," she said, her voice and body language losing what little emotion they had for complete detachment. "What you say seems plausible. I do not need to examine it any more."

"Sensible woman," he said, a smirk forming on his lips, before he turned completely serious. "I want to know what happened to Lord Gottwald... in detail. Tell me everything you can."

"I don't know how they found us," she said, staring him straight in the eye. "I know that they used a Geffion disturber to take down the security system. We almost got away through the secret exit, it even fooled most of them... but two of them found out and chased us down themselves."

"Continue."

"Their combat skills were... laughable, really, in comparison to Jeremiah's, though better than mine, as I stopped fighting years ago and was out of practice," she reported, "But..."

"What?"

"He took out the better fighter easily. I watched: they had weapons, guns, yet they were not much of a match. After he took out the first one, the second one was easier. But he... he... I don't know why, but Jeremiah... seemed to give up."

"Give...up? That's... preposterous!"

"Or not so much surrender, but he stopped fighting. They both stopped, and some words were exchanged between them. And then, he shouted out loud, laughing, 'Go, Anya! And remember that I, Lord Jeremiah, have lived and died in the service of my Loyalty!'"

The man with the youthful appearance was silent.

"The terrorist replied, 'That may be, but I cannot let you go.' And he pulled out a Geffion switch-apparently he had only been stalling for time while it charged-and he pressed it. I suppose he had somehow found out about Jeremiah's... metallic nature, and he had somehow rigged it to stop all machinery, or rather, instead of a usual Geffion switch, this one caused all machinery in the area to malfunction and explode."

Silence.

"He died standing up," Anya added as an extra note. "The terrorist seemed to have no interest in killing me, and warned me to leave before the others came... I do not know his motives for this, and before you ask, no, I did not see his face, although it seemed his mask had been removed at some point, it was too dark for me to make out what he looked like."

The young man's eyes narrowed, absorbing this detail.

"Jeremiah's not the only on they got," she said. "They killed Nina Einstein as well."

His eyes bulged. "Why?" he asked.

Anya returned her cool gaze to him. "To punish the people who were supposedly complicit in your reign, and yet got off without punishment."

He pondered this for a while. "Alstreim," he said, "Where is C.C.?"

"I do not know, but I doubt that the answer to that is favorable?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Why?"

"The funds that you gave us... there were never any withdrawals besides mine and Jeremiah's. So either she has chosen not to use your money for mysterious reasons, or..."

"...she is unable to use it at all," he finished. Anya nodded in agreement.

He took a deep breath. Then, he nodded. "Thank you, Alstreim. You may continue to use the funds as you like, in that case." He got up and waked to the door.

And then, before he left, he asked over his shoulder, "Do you hate me?"

Silence. "It is because of you that Jeremiah lived as he did. If he had known you were alive... he would not be dead now. And here you show up, nonetheless."

He smiled at the icicles in her voice. "No need to worry, I'll finish up the job of Zero Requiem soon enough. Would you like a postcard upon the event? Copy of the autopsy? Head on a platter? I can easily arrange for it."

"I have had enough of death," she said firmly, "Go. Whatver you do from here... is none of my concern."

* * *

><p>As he looked down at the scene before him, Ann kneeling down and soaking up the bloodied floor while Aaron begrudgingly helped, his only thought on his mind was: <em>How long? <em>He would have to work carefully, of course, making sure that he evaded the Black Knights while he watched over the wench to ensure that her Geass developed quickly.

Would it be a year until he could pass the Code to her? Two years? Her pacifism was a problem… he would have to see if her non-violent ethic extended to exclude mercy-killing or suicide, as well as how she felt about immortality, etc. If she was againstit, then… should he find another contract? No, Geass users were dangerous, often disturbing world peace or losing their sanity. Ann, at least, he did not need to worry about in that respect. Rather than add another Geass user to the equation, it would be better to try his luck with Ann and convince her that letting him die would be the right thing. If not, then he could try someone else, with no damage done.

Two years at the most. He could aim for a year, perhaps even half a year. He would need to push her, get her to use Geass as much as possible.

She would kill him, and would never need to worry about the Black Knights again. It was the perfect plan. Ann as an immortal would at the very least do the world no harm. He would be able to finally be rid of the weight people called existence, hopefully disappearing into nothingness.

Meanwhile, beyond making sure that he wasn't discovered before his plans blossomed, he could play cat and mouse with the Black Knights, and crush the terrorists under his foot. If he was realy constrained for time, he could just set them up for defeat. It would be _easy._

He was interrupted from his thoughts by a knock at the door...

* * *

><p>Ann snapped up at the sound, her attention turning away from her work. She blinked, uncertain for a minute. She saw her "contractor" staring ahead, apparently in deep contemplation (she had no idea what he was thinking, but he seemed annoyed to be interrupted from his thoughts by the unxpected noise.)<p>

"That must be Shirley and… whatever his name is," she murmured.

"Who?" Aaron asked.

"Some friends," Ann replied.

Aaron blinked. "You don't have friends," he stated in the most matter of fact tone.

Brushing his comment aside, she responded, "I met them today. They asked if I could come with them…"

"Ah, yes," the immortal in the corner said, "Kallen's daughter." (Shirley, it seemed, was "Kallen's daughter" and her friend wasn't even worth mentioning.)

"Wait, how do you know who my sister met? You weren't with her today" Aaron asked, his voice rising with confusion and suspicion.

"Erm, well, he…"

"I have my ways," the ageless man replied with a dismissing wave of his hand. Aaron narrowed his eyes at him, but then just looked away with a slight 'hmph.'

"I said I would go with them tonight," Ann said, "But I haven't made dinner yet… I guess I'll have to tell them another time would be better." She sighed, genuinely disappointed, then her face brightened up with an idea. "Hey, Aaron, how about you come with me? I could ask…'

Aaron looked like he considered it for a moment, but then hastily said, "No way, I don't like hanging out with _old _people. You go yourself."

The not-exactly-young man raised his eyebrows at this, but said nothing, a neutral expression that nevertheless seemed to shout, 'Oh great, I'm stuck with the brat!' written on his face. Ann's own countenance contorted with worry. "Are you sure? I'm certain I could ask…"

"No."

"…Or if you wanted me to stay…"

"No."

"But…"

"I'm fine," Aaron said, irritation lacing his tone.

"I haven't seen you for so long…"

"You shouldn't have been stupid and gotten yourself in trouble then.'

Ann sighed. "Well, if you're sure that's what you want…"

There was another knock on the door.

"… I guess I'll go get that, then," Ann said, getting up and going toward the door.

"Wipe the blood off your hands first," The immortal ordered. "You wouldn't want them seeing that."

And with that, the man sat up, and strode right into the room that she knew as her father's study. She opened her mouth to protest that that room wasn't up for grabs, but he just turned and shot her a look that seemed to read her thoughts and simultaneously dismiss them as nothing. Disheartened, she told herself it didn't matter anyway: it _was _just a room, and her father couldn't use it if he were dead.

"Your hands," L.L. repeated.

"Oh! R-right then," she said, awkwardly staring at her hands which, indeed, had a slight red tinge to them. Nothing that noticeable, as it had been diluted with the water she was using, but sill nothing she wanted to be explaining away in front of her new friends. For a moment she almost wiped them on her own shirt, but then shook her head at herself and grabbed a paper towel to do so. There was another knock. L.L. disappeared into her father's study and she went over and opened the door. Shirley was standing there.

"Hey!" she said. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Ann said noncommittally, looking over her shoulder. Aaron was sitting on one of the couch chairs with a sullen expression on his face.

"Okay then, let's go."

Ann nodded mutely and walked out the door, her eyes not leaving her new friend. Somehow, though, her annoyance over L.L. just trouncing into her father's study like he owned it overshadowed her happiness at being with her new friends. Plus... Aaron seemed angrier than usual at her. She would have to find some way to make him feel better. should she have forced him to come? No, he only got worse when he was forced to do things. It would be best to leave him be, wait for a while, then talk to him about it when...

She caught herself zoning out and gave her head a slight, imperceptible shake to snap herself out of it. She could be so unfocused sometimes; it was a habit she needed to curb along with stammering and saying "Um." Thanking as much, she turned her attention back to what Shirley was saying.

"...And Mom said that she wants to see you, maybe tomorrow if not tonight. Apparently there are some people who want you to stay in a safe place, under surveillance until the coast is clear, and apparently Ms. Opal wants to ask you a lot of questions, and apparently some people even are kind of angry with you, I don't why, Mom didn't fill me in completely. Anyway, I think it would be a safe place..."

"Locked up," she found herself saying.

Shirley looked at her, and for a while Ann didn't realize she had said it loud enough to hear. Then, she realized that she had and she started slightly. "I-I mean, what I mean is... I didn't mean it like that," she said.

"It's okay, I understand," Shirley said. "Being under people's protection can be irritating, can't it?"

Ann nodded, deciding that that was a safe response.

"I'll give my Mom a message that you would rather stay on your own."

Message...

Ann blinked. That word. Something... about it. She suddenly thought back to her time spent in the clinic, the walls around her devoid of color, strange images passing through her imagination.

_...Give him a message for me..._

And pair of sun golden eyes staring into her.

She stopped walking. Shirley stopped shortly after her, staring back at her curiously with a hint of worry.

"Ann? Is something wrong?"

"Um..."

Oh great, well isn't that a brilliant answer, she thought to herself. "There's something I forgot," she said aloud.

"Wha-?"

But before Shirley could even finish, And whipped around and sprinted back to the house, hastily opening and slamming the door behind her. She ran into the living room, where Aaron was sitting on the couch, looking down at the floor. He turned his head up at looked at her, surprised.

"That was fast. Did they turn out to be creepier than Lelouch?"

"No," she said, "But I need to tell him something before I go. Something I forgot before."

"He's in that room," the kid said, pointing.

"Thanks," she said, going to the door indicated. She put her hand o the doorknob, then, realizing that he would probably chide her for entering unannounced, she took her hand off, and knocked first.

"Come in," the immortal's deep voice replied.

It was ridiculous that one could feel chills at entering a room in one's own house; and yet hearing L.L.'s voice-with his almost menacing tone and slow, exact pace-from the other side of the door made her feel like she was some servant at his grand palace, expendable at the slightest failure. However, she brushed aside the feeling and entered.

He was sitting at a desk, seemingly perusing a book he had found on one of her father's shelves. He didn't bother to look back at her.

"So soon coming back," he said, not bothering to ask why.

"There's something I need to tell you, but I forgot before. And I could have told you when I got back, but I probably wouldn't have remembered it then and so I'm telling you now so I won't forget."

"Slow down when you talk," he said. "Now, what is it that you need to tell me?"

"Umm, I'm not sure actually..."

He sighed, flipping a page. There was a twinge of annoyance against as she realized that he was sitting at her father's desk... but she banished the thought from her mind, telling herself that it was just a room. He responded, "Wench, if you didn't know what you needed to tell me, then why did you come back here? And stop. Saying. _Um."_

"U-ah-okay. Well, I kind of know. It was like a dream," she said, getting to the subject.

"People dream all sorts of things when they are on Refrain withdrawal," he said dismissively. "I would recommend getting a psychologist, though any such person would be sure to feed your personal information to the Black Knights, so I'll have to withdraw that advice."

"I don't think it was really a dream, though," she said. "There was this... lady, I think. And she had eyes, like, uh-that is, the color..."

Long silence. Ann exhaled in frustration.

"You don't know the names of any colors, do you? That is, you have yet to associate the colors you see with specific words."

"I...guess..."

He said nothing, focusing on the book.

"They were like... the sun."

"You mean golden."

"I suppose. And her hair was like... like..."

"Lime green, like spring grass."

His words came quietly, though not tenderly; a mutter to himself, exasperated, grudging, and yet honeyed with bittersweet nostalgia. Ann perked up.

"So you know who I'm talking about!"

"It was just your own dream."

Doubtful silence.

"I'll explain the details of the Code and how it allows me to know later," he said boredly.

"But it _wasn't _a dream," she said. "She talked to me. She said, 'So you're Lelouch's contract.'And then she said something about me being handicapped but that's..."

She stopped midsentence, interrupted by seeing him suddenly drop the book he had been holding on the desk. Ann felt a little ruffled by the strength of his response. Was it surprise? Anger?

"She wanted me to give you a message," she said, a bit more subdued, "She said: don't bother looking for her. She's busy."

Long silence. She found herself shuffling where she stood.

"Of course," he responded, finally. "I got the message. Now, go run off with Kallen's daughter."

Ann obeyed, carefully closing the door behind her before saying her last goodbye to Aaron and quickly running out the door.

"That took a while," Shirley commented. "What did you do?"

Ann just shrugged.

* * *

><p>"So… what should we go for? The new cafe, or the old one?" Shirley asked when they were in the car.<p>

Cuchulainn shrugged.

"Pizza, maybe?"

He frowned and shook his head.

Shirley turned to Ann, "What do you think, Ann?"

Ann predictably only stared back with a deer-in-the-headlights look. "I don't know," she responded demurely.

Shirley scrutinized them both. Cuchulainn's eyes seemed half open, he was leaning back lazily in his seat, while Ann sat straight up and yet seemed to shrink back into the corner at the same time, a blank, nervous expression."Wow… you both are at the lowest level of enthusiasm today," she commented.

Ann nodded, probably not quite registering what Shirley had said. The red-head sighed.

"You are both making this more difficult than it has to be," she said. And then, she pulled out her cell phone, a devious look spreading across her features. Cuchulainn's frown deepened, and he suddenly took interest

'What are you doing with that thing?" Cuchulainn asked, suddenly taking interest.

"Well, since _you _are being such a stick in the mud, I was thinking I might bring in someone a bit more…_fun."_

Cuchulainn's eyes widened, "You can't possibly mean…"

"Mean what?" she asked innocently, her fingers lightly pressing a few buttons on the device.

"God, no! Shirley, so help me if you call Penny Ashford…!"

Ring. Ring. Suddenly Cuchulainn's demeanor changed from panicky to charming and polite.

"As a matter of fact, I think the new café would be a wonderful idea," he said, cheerfully and yet a little too fast to be calm. "Don't you agree, Ann?"

"What just happened?" Ann asked.

"Well that settles it!" Shirley said, hanging up her cell phone. "Off we go!"

"Huh? What? Who's Penny Ashford?"

Cuchulainn grimaced, "Don't bother asking; you'll learn soon enough. Though I fear for your well-being the day you do." He shuddered.

"Oh come on, she's not that bad."

Cuchulainn said nothing, because he was cut of by a sudden jerk as the car screeched around the corner.

"The world will rue the day it gave you a license, Shirley Kozuki," he muttered.

She grinned in response, and Ann found herself gripping the seats.

The cafe turned out to be a nice place. The music was soothing, the drinks were good, and there was plenty of eye-candy on the wall for Ann to stare at when looking people in the eye became inconvenient. She didn't know what to order but Shirley made some suggestions and she took advantage of them. Conversation consisted of her having to answer a few questions, before it went off into a tangent between the two of them while Ann sipped her hot cocoa and watched before they realized that she wasn't being included in the conversation, at which point they would ask another generic question.

"So... what's it like living on your own?"

"Your Mom and Dad are divorced?"

"Geuch! Dead?! Oh, I'm so sorry... Cuchulainn, say something funny to divert the sudden melancholy of this situation."

"...I don't joke about dead parents, remember?"

"Oh, that's right."

Long, awkward pause.

"Well, so how have you supported yourself, living on your own?"

"...Hmm, well, it sounds like you've made a way for yourself, but that must've been hard at fourteen, keeping up with school and all."

"YOU DROPPED OUT OF HIGH SCOOL?!"

"No, that's not okay!... what do you mean your History teacher told you that you were wasting your parents money? ... dammit, Ann, that's not the right attitude to take!"

"Cuchulainn, tell her something inspiring that will get her motivated to go back to school."

Cuchulainn, who had said remarkably little during this particular conversation, shrugged and said, "It's necessary to lead a successful life, and I recommend education to everybody. However, I also understand why you might want to quit, if you were supporting a young child and had found a way to work..."

"Oh yeah, says the guy who graduated from college this year, when he was _nineteen." _She pointed at her friend. "He really did that! He's got a Chemistry degree while I'm just about to enter senior year at Ashford."

"You would have, too, if you had entered high school when you were eleven."

"Please explain, in the presence of Ann, why you would do something so insane."

He shrugged. "I could do it, so I did. And I was a bored kid who wanted to prove he was smarter than everyone else. Enough said."

"You forget the part about being a genius."

"I am not a genius. If you had had tutors in every subject, you would have done just as well as me. Everyone could graduate from college at sixteen if they had the proper motivation and a hoard of tutors to make sure you got everything right..."

"You keep denying it, but someday... Oh wait, Ann are you still with us?"

The gray-eyed, mousy-hair girl nodded dumbly.

"We've been going on for a while without you saying anything," Cuchulainn said apologetically.

Ann told them she was fine.

"Are you okay?" Shirley asked, "Are you enjoying yourself?"

Ann nodded again.

"How were you able to find work without a high school education, anyway? You were blind too, so that couldn't have helped," Cuchulainn pointed out.

"Well... I used the money my father had put away for my education," she explained, saying more than five words for the first time, "And there was a friend of his who helped me to find work."

"Wow..." was all Shirley said. She and Cuchulainn shared a look for a moment, before she turned back. "You know... why don't you come to Ashford?"

"...Ashford?"

"Ashford Academy," Shirley, "It's the school I'm going to right now. My mom went to it, my dad went to it, Cuchulainn here went to it... I could ask my Mom. She's a pretty famous member of the alumni there, and she could pull a few strings..."

"No thanks," Ann replied. Honestly, she wasn't sure if she could stand going to school again. She couldn't read, and hadn't even succeeded in the vi Britannia School for the Blind where they were famous for making sure every student graduated with a good education. Going to a normal school, where she would have to read, and where she would probably be put back a lot of grades so that she was much older than everyone in her class... She didn't want to even think of it.

"It wouldn't work out anyway, because I'm retarded," she finished. She said it in her brightest tone of voice, certain that that excuse would convince them she didn't need to go to school.

It didn't work out. Instead, both of them gaped at her with pity.

"You're not..." Shirley said.

"Who told you that?" Cuchulainn asked.

Ann decided that this would be a good time to disengage with a "Hmm" and look down. She didn't bother to tune in what they were saying after that. Something about, "Self-esteem" and "Barbaric attitude toward mental defects adopted during Charles zi Britannia's reign" and "Common mis-diagnosing of people as 'retarded' due to prejudiced views that the country hadn't quite shaken off." She hardly knew any of the words they were using.

Their dialogue eventually devolved to smaller matters, such as things that had happened at Ashford that had been greatly amusing and which they told her about with chuckles and sparkling eyes. They told about their student council, some sort of cross-dressing festival and (Shirley's eyes shone at this one) school Knightmare battle on the football court, though apparently that hadn't been sanctioned by the school faculty. Cuchulainn said that the school was a magnet for oddities, and that weird things showed up sooner or later.

Eventually (Ann didn't know how it got to this,) the young man asked, "...Speaking of which, don't you notice anything familiar about Ann, Shirley?

"What do you mean?" Shirley responded.

"Well... doesn't she remind you of someone else, that we might have met a few years ago... another person who was blind?"

"I don't know what you... oh."

Ann looked up at them. Shirley's eyes had widened, and both of them stared at her for a minute. Then the girl opposite Ann beamed and said, "Wow! You're... Cuchulainn, that's why you were giving her a ride?"

"Yes."

"What?" asked Ann.

"You're amazing," Shirley told her, "Don't you remember? Back in that alley, Cuchulainn here had ticked off too many people by stealing their money..."

"I did not steal! I won it fair and square, and the situation wouldn't have devolved if you hadn't insisted on following to find out what I was doing!"

"Yeah, right! You're just lucky I was there when... hey, Ann? Are you still here?"

"Huh? Of course I'm still here," she said, looking up from where her gaze had trailed to the floor. What they were talking about _sounded _like something she might have gotten involved in, but she really didn't remember.

"You know what?" Shirley said, "You are invited to my Mom's house this Saturday for a family dinner. And you _are _coming."

"No, no..."

"You don't have a choice!" Shirley said cheerfully.

"My brother..."

"You can bring him."

Ann sighed.

"Remember what I told you about arguing with her?" Cuchulainn said sympathetically, "Well, that applies here too."

"She can even meet Naoto and Suki and Cornelius..."

"...And Cornelius's _darling _Camille," Cuchulainn threw in.

"...And Roan, if he ever shows up, and Penny!"

Ann stared at them, strangely encouraged and overwhelmed at once. She sighed.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, a certain immortal sat by himself, pondering a certain message he had received earlier.<p>

"Don't come find her?" he said to himself, "What else should I be expecting? Damn witch... insisting I set up those funds and then not using them!"

There was a small part of him-the indomitable child-that seemed indignant. How _dare _she contact Ann without contacting him? If she could find a way to talk to the girl, then certainly he must be easier! But apparently, it was because she did not want to be found.

"Damn her," he repeated to himself.

What was the witch up to? There was something she was hiding, there had to be... but why? What did she have to hide? Was she planning something, something against him? He doubted it, but still... there had to be some secret that she was afraid for him to know. And if she had indeed been avoiding him since he first resurrected, then she might have been hiding it since Zero Requiem.

"Well, game on, witch," he muttered to himself, "There's not secret you can have that I can't find out."

He leaned back in the chair, satisfied at the thought. It seemed there were a few things an old demon could do to pass the time before he left this existence forever. There were still mind games to be played, secrets to find out, enemies to crush...

The Demon Emperor smirked. He couldn't wait.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, there you go. One finished chapter. I had been thinking about Shirley and Cuchulainn walking in and seeing what was going on in the house... but I decided that while such a turn of events would be funny, it would be impractical and hard to write.<strong>

**Thank you, readers and reviewers, for your patience. I'll try to get chapters out on a more regular basis. in fact, I'm aiming to release the net one two weeks from now, though I hesitate to promise it will be out on time**

**Please review!**


	8. Author's note

To those who loyally await an update,

_This _fic. It seems that pretty much every time I open my inbox and find a message from this site, it's usually someone favoriting or following this story. I am flattered (though it's probably more due to firelordzuko's recommendation that anything else; thank you, firelordzuko), but unfortunately each new favorite or follow just gives me a guilt trip, because I haven't updated this thing for such a long time.

I really would like to continue this story. However, there are also a million other stories on my mind, and not all of them fanfiction. I am not saying that I have "grown up" and decided fanfiction is for children, no. I think I will continue to write here. But… whatever I publish, it will probably only be one-shots. I don't have the time for a long multi-chapter story. There's a _lot _I wanted to do with Death Wish. But the more I think about it, the more I realize what a commitment it would be, and how much effort it would take. Most importantly, I look back on these first few chapters and realize some of the sloppiness in the writing quality, and it discourages me from continuing at all. If I could continued, the quality would probably drop. There would be plot holes, ass pulls, and general stupidity. And I think it would just disappoint all of you to read a crappy story where you thought could have been a good one.

Besides, right now my life has suddenly become difficult. I'm not going to go into details, because that would be boring, but it's enough that I am struggling nad I need to put energy into other aspects of life.

So… while I wish I could finish this story, I won't be able to. I'm really sorry to anyone who enjoyed this and was waiting for a continuation.

Sorry,

GBlackwell.


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